5 dead, police freed in Mexican rural confrontation

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Officials in southern Mexico say police and civilians engaged in a strange confrontation over the weekend that left two officers and three civilians dead. The government of the southern state of Guerrero gave a confused account of the events late Sunday. State prosecutors said several dozen local residents seized 32 state police who responded to the confrontation in the township of Tecpan. The residents complained of police abuses, and then led officials to a police patrol vehicle where the five bodies were found. It is not clear how the bodies got there. A state official convinced the local residents to release the police.