Official helicopters under fire from narcos in Mexico

Mexican federal forces helicopters have been attacked on 28 occasions during the five years of the struggle against drug trafficking undertaken by the Government of President Felipe Calderón, according to official documents disclosed Monday.

In the first two years of the struggle against drug trafficking, the air force, Navy and the Attorney-General reported that there had been no attack, but as of 2008 the situation changed.

Official reports indicated that four helicopters were achieved in 2008 by gunfire, which left an officer on board wounded, in 2009, six more were attacked in the rotors, side doors and even in the engine compartment, although all the aircraft were apparently landing.

The year 2010 was the worst year, with 14 attack helicopters and a member of the crew wounded. Some teams received up to seven impacts of bullets which played windshield, u000aairframe and rotors.

In 2011 was only reported that three helicopters were met by gunfire, although the number could be higher: the Federal Police not reported information on the attacks on its aircraft, although a few months ago it was reported that on 24 May two officers were injured when they were transported in one of its helicopters was attacked by gunmen in the Western State of Michoacan.

Information on the attacks on helicopters was required by the journal Millennium through a request for public information. The Associated Press had access to the documents Monday.

Drug trafficking groups have been identified in the past put strings on plantations of poppy and marijuana to try to shoot down military helicopters and police.

In 2003, in what authorities said then that it was the first attack attributed such fatal drug traffickers, armed men that guarded a plantation of u000apoppy downed two helicopters of the police and caused the death of five agents to Board

Such attacks, however, were little FAQ.

The increase in attacks on aircraft shows the increased ferocity of drug trafficking groups and also supports the recent claim by the Government that 2010 has been the worst year in the spiral of violence attributed to organized crime.

The murders attributed to organised crime increased 11% in the first months of 2011, when there were murdered 12.903, compared to the 11,583 in the same period of 2010, according to statistics released recently by the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR).

Growth rate, however, shot a 70% in the first nine months of 2010, compared to the same period of 2009.

Also on Monday, authorities reported that seven gunmen were killed in a confrontation with federal police officers in u000aa road in the vicinity of the city of Cuernavaca, South of the capital of the country.

The Attorney of the central Morelos State reported in a statement that one of the alleged attackers was captured after the confrontation and a federal policeman was injured in a foot.

State authority claimed that the gunmen belonged to organized crime, although he said no to what group.

In Morelos, whose capital is Cuernavaca, the authorities have reported disputes between remnants of the poster of the brothers Beltran Leyva.

Once the capo Arturo Beltrán Leyva was killed by the Navy in December 2009 in Cuernavaca, the area has suffered at various times clashes after a division of factions of your poster.

The same Monday, the Procurator of Justice of the city of Mexico said that two persons were found decapitated in a pickup truck burned at the entrance of a shopping center the u000alast week had been kidnapped a day earlier and had no criminal history.

Jesús Rodríguez Almeida, Procurator of Justice in the capital, said that the victims were a Secretary of 19 years who worked at a station of State radio (Radio education) and her boyfriend in 28 years that sold appliances.

The headless bodies were found in the wealthy neighborhood of Santa Fe, though RODRIGUEZ said that they were killed in another site. The reason for the killings is unknown, but the pattern is common among gangs of drug-trafficking Mexican.

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