2 police officers killed in Acapulco

ACAPULCO, Mexico — Attackers used grenades and guns in near-simultaneous attacks on two police stations in Acapulco Monday, killing two officers and wounding two others in the Pacific coast resort city plagued by drug violence.

The bold pre-dawn attacks follow a spectacular four-hour gunbattle that killed 17 people — 13 suspected hit men, two innocent bystanders and two soldiers — said Daniel Velasco, an army commander in Acapulco. Another bystander was wounded in Saturday’s shootout.

The Defense Department initially said 18 people had died.

Gunmen fatally shot two officers sitting in a patrol car parked outside one of the police stations shortly before 5:30 a.m Monday. A few minutes later, assailants attacked a second station, about 2 miles (3 kilometers) away, wounding two officers, according to the Guerrero state police department.

Soldiers set up roadblocks in search of the suspects, who shot up at least eight patrol cars.

A state police official, who was not authorized to give his name, said investigators are looking into whether the attacks were retaliation for Saturday’s gunbattle.

Thousands of shots were fired and 50 explosions marked Saturday’s battle, which erupted after soldiers received a tip that armed men were gathered at a gated house less than 100 yards (meters) from the Los Flamingos Hotel that was once a private club for Hollywood stars like John Wayne and “Tarzan” star Johnny Weissmuller.

Velasco said Monday that the dead include a hit man known as “Commander Magana” with the Beltran Leyva drug cartel.

Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, has long suffered violence from drug cartels fighting for turf and the Beltran Leyva cartel has a strong presence in Acapulco. Last month, soldiers arrested a suspected cartel lieutenant as he stepped off a private plane in the northern city of Monterrey on his way back from Acapulco, where he said he’d met with cartel leader Arturo Beltran Leyva at a baptism party.

President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of soldiers to Acapulco as part of his nationwide crackdown on organized crime launched in 2006. Since then, more than 10,800 people have been killed by drug violence nationwide.