25 arrested in Mexico after ambush killing 13 police officers

MEXICO CITY, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Mexican authorities have arrested 25 suspects with alleged ties to the assailants who killed 13 police officers in an ambush last week in Coatepec Harinas, a town in the central State of Mexico, local officials said Tuesday.

The state's Attorney General's Office said in a statement the arrests were made during a large-scale operation by 190 members of federal and local security forces in the south of the state, in response to the ambush.

The 25 suspects are believed to be drug dealers, vigilantes or thieves operating in the region for "La Familia Michoacana," a criminal organization based in neighboring Michoacan state, officials said.

Those arrested have been linked to another three suspects identified as the organizers of the ambush on a rural road in the community of Llano Grande.

"For these three individuals, an arrest warrant for the homicide of the 13 public servants was already granted and an offer of a 500,000-peso (24,000 U.S. dollars) reward has been issued for each of them," prosecutors said.

The victims of the attack included eight State of Mexico police officers and five investigating police officers from the prosecutor's office, who were ambushed while traveling towards a highway near Llano Grande to set up a checkpoint.

The authorities found 672 shell casings from fired bullets at the crime scene, the statement said.