CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Gunmen ambushed two police vehicles at a busy intersection in this drug- and violence-plagued city, killing seven officers and a 17-year-old boy who was passing by, authorities said.
Six of the police officers killed in Friday's attack were federal, and one was a local police woman, said Enrique Torres Valadez, a spokesman for the state of Chihuahua, where Ciudad Juarez is located. Two local police officers were in critical condition.
Authorities said the police officers had stopped to talk to a street vendor who flagged them down for help when gunmen opened fire from behind their pickup patrol trucks. The assailants fled in three vehicles.
Investigators said they don't know why the officers were shot, although they don't believe they were targeted because of any recent arrests they had made.
No one has been arrested but police said they have recovered two of the three cars used in the shooting.
Hours after the attack, a painted message directed to top federal police commanders and claiming responsibility for the attack appeared on a wall in downtown Ciudad Juarez. It was apparently signed by La Linea gang, the enforcement arm of the Juarez drug cartel. The Juarez cartel has been locked in a bloody turf battle with the Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
"This will happen to you ... for being with El Chapo Guzman and to all the dirtbags who support him. Sincerely, La Linea," the message read. The authenticity of the message could not be independently verified.
Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million across from El Paso, Texas, is one of the world's deadliest cities, and a two-year turf battle between drug cartels has left more than 5,000 people dead...
