Mexican federal police opened fire Friday on an armoured vehicle carrying U.S. government employees, wounding two, in a confusing incident in which it wasn't clear if the police were trying to help or harm the Americans.
The U.S. embassy here described the incident as an ambush and said that the Mexican government "has acknowledged that members of the federal police were involved."
But few details were provided, and the Mexican government version, given in a joint statement by the Mexican navy and the Public Security Secretariat, did not say whether the police knew they were firing on a U.S. vehicle or had done so by mistake.
The shooting occurred about 8 a.m. on a wooded mountain road and came after the embassy vehicle apparently already had escaped an ambush that had been laid by four other vehicles, according to the joint statement.
That ambush took place when U.S. personnel and an employee of the Mexican navy were headed to a mountain installation known as El Capulin. The U.S. vehicle, a grey fourdoor Toyota SUV, had left the main highway and had turned down a dirt road when a vehicle with armed men cut it off.
When the embassy vehicle sought to return to the main highway, the assailants opened fire.
Three other vehicles carrying gunmen joined the chase.
The Mexican naval official radioed for help, and Mexican army and federal police units were summoned, the statement said.
Mexican news reports said the embassy vehicle had reached the main two lane highway heading toward Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City, when federal police opened fire.
The U.S. employees, identified as Stan Dave Boss, 62, and Jess Garner, 49, were said to be in stable condition in hospital.
Details of their mission in Mexico were not provided.
