Mexico arrests 12 police for suspected involvement in massacre

MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials have arrested 12 police officers for their suspected involvement in the massacre of 19 people in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas last month, state prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Irving Barrios, attorney general of Tamaulipas, told a news conference that the arrests had been carried out after investigations showed at least 12 state police were likely involved in the killings in the municipality of Camargo.

Authorities have so far identified two Guatemalans and two Mexicans among the 19, whose bodies were badly charred. Guatemalan families said they feared loved-ones trying to migrate to the United States were among the dead.

The massacre has caused renewed consternation in Mexico about the perils faced by migrants, many of whom come from the three violent and impoverished Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Tamaulipas state police could not immediately be reached for comment.