Police battle for hours with gunmen at Tijuana house

[High Plains]

Source: CNN International

CNN) -- Four police officers were wounded Thursday in an hours-long police shootout at a suspected safe house for criminals in the Mexican border town of Tijuana, a state official said.

Five people were arrested, and seven others were found dead inside the residence, said Daniel De La Rosa, secretary of public security for the Mexican state of Baja.

The incident began about 10 a.m. (1 p.m. ET), De La Rosa said. State and federal security officers on a routine patrol found the suspected safe house in a Tijuana neighborhood, with "several criminals" inside, he said.

Officials were attempting to identify those inside and enter the house when the shootout began, De La Rosa said. It lasted several hours, and dozens of officers were involved, he said. A nearby day care center was evacuated so the children inside would not be hurt.



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/01/17/mexico.shootout/?iref=mpstoryview

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Mexican President Calderon has about 25,000 soldiers out fighting the drug traffickers.

About 2,800 people were killed in drug prohibition-related violence in Mexico last year.

It looks like we're off to a bloody start this year, too--there have already been other shoot-outs and killings in Tijuana and down in the Rio Grande Valley towns of Reynosa and Rio Bravo, and it's still January!

Meanwhile, the US Congress is getting ready to approve a $1.4 billion multi-year anti-drug aid package for Calderon.

If you like Plan Colombia, you'll love Plan Mexico.