Mexican drug gangs kill 5 in attacks on police, troops

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) - Coordinated attacks in at least eight Mexican cities killed three federal police officers and two soldiers Saturday in what officials called an unprecedented onslaught by drug gangs.

Another 18 federal officers were wounded, the state-run Notimex news agency reported, citing federal police official Rodolfo Cruz Lopez. The attacks were in retribution for the capture early Saturday of Arnoldo Rueda Medina, a high-ranking member of the Michoacan Family drug gang, Cruz said.

Men armed with high-powered rifles and grenades launched the attacks in the cities of Morelia, Zitacuaro, Zamora, Lazaro Cardenas, Apatzingan, La Piedad and Huetamo in the Pacific Coast state of Michoacan state, Notimex news said. Another rifle and grenade attack took place near Acapulco in Guerrero state, which borders Michoacan, but no one was injured.

The three officers were killed in Zitacuaro, police official Eduardo Moran told CNN en Español. Cruz said the officers were attending to a motor vehicle accident when they were shot. And the two soldiers died in Zamora, shot by men in a passing car as they walked to their headquarters.