Mexico to try 19 soldiers in civilian shootings

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Mexico to try 19 soldiers in civilian shootings
Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:58PM EDT

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican military court will
try 19 soldiers in the deaths of three children and two
women at an army drug checkpoint, the defense ministry
said on Monday.

The three officers and 16 troops were arrested last week.
The ministry said a military judge in the northern state
of Sinaloa had ruled there was sufficient evidence to
jail them before a trial for the killing of the five civilians.

The shootings came amid pressure on President Felipe
Calderon's government to counter human rights abuses
by soldiers in a 6-month-old offensive on Mexico's drug
cartels.

The soldiers were stationed at the roadblock in Sinaloa
state on June 1 when, according to victims' relatives,
they fired more than a dozen shots at a car carrying two
female teachers, a husband and wife and four children,
after the vehicle failed to stop.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN1121315220070612

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Last week: Mexico soldiers kill unarmed family-rights official - Reuters