Four Mexican federal police killed in ambush in Guerrero

Members of the Mexican Federal Police are pictured in Mexico City on February 27, 2015.(By AFP)

Gunmen have ambushed Mexican federal police agents, killing four and wounding seven in Guerrero, one of the country’s states that is most plagued by drug-violence, the government said.

The agents were attacked during an operation on Monday in the municipality of San Miguel Totolapan, the federal attorney general’s office said in a statement.

One criminal suspect was killed and three were wounded, the office said.

State authorities said soldiers and state police were searching for the gunmen. San Miguel Totolapan is a fiefdom of Los Tequileros, one of the bloodiest criminal gangs in Guerrero.

Violence has spiked in Guerrero over the past decade as a growing number of criminal gangs vie for control of crops of opium poppies and for drug-trafficking routes.