In El Salvador, army surrounds town to root out gang

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — More than 2,000 soldiers and police surrounded and closed off a town in El Salvador in order to search for street gang members accused in a killing. The large-scale encirclement of the town of Comasagua is the latest example of heavy-handed tactics by the government to root out street gangs. President Nayib Bukele wrote in his Twitter account Sunday that members of the MS-13 gang were believed to still be inside Comasagua, about 20 miles (30 kms) from the capital, San Salvador. Bukele requested Congress grant him extraordinary powers after gangs were blamed for 62 killings on March 26, and that decree has been renewed every month since then.