OFF THE WIRE
Gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets at station
MEXICO CITY — The entire police force of a small northern Mexican town quit after gunmen attacked their recently inaugurated headquarters, according to local reports on Wednesday.
Los Ramones Mayor Santos Salinas said nobody was injured in Monday night's attack, during which gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets at the building's facade, according to Noroeste newspaper's website. Six grenades, of which three detonated, were also flung at the building, the newspaper reported.
" Fortunately, those who were inside the building threw themselves on the ground and nobody was hurt," Salinas told the newspaper.
All 14 members of the force reportedly resigned Tuesday. Nobody answered the phones at Salinas' offices, according to The Associated Press.
The new police headquarters had been inaugurated three days earlier.
Los Ramones is in Nuevo Leon, a state torn by fighting between the Gulf and Zetas drug gangs. Police stations in small northeastern Mexican towns are frequently attacked, and several mayors have been assassinated.
Mexico' s ill-equipped municipal forces often quit after cartel attacks. President Felipe Calderon has proposed eliminating Mexico's municipal forces and replacing them with one force per state.
According to Salinas, at 9:30 p.m. on Monday unknown assailants arrived at the police station and launched a 20-minute attack, Noroeste reported. Police backup arrived shortly after.
While the mayor had not received threats leading up to the attack, police earlier noticed suspicious men driving luxury pickups in the area, the newspaper reported. Fearing a strike, policemen lined up their patrol cars in front of the building in order to create a barricade, the newspaper added.
It was the second attack in less than a week against police installations in the state of Nuevo Leon. On Oct. 19, two grenades were thrown at a police shelter in the town of Sabinas Hidalgo, Noroeste reported.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39863570/ns/world_news-americas
