Five killed in Mexican drug violence

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MORELIA, Mexico, July 12 (UPI) -- Three police officers and two soldiers were killed in Mexico in retribution for the arrest of a prominent drug cartel leader, authorities said.

An additional 18 federal officers were wounded in shootings that occurred Saturday in at least eight Mexican cities, CNN reported.

The attacks were retribution for the capture of Arnoldo Rueda Medina, a leader of the La Familia Michoacana cartel, federal police official Rodolfo Cruz Lopez told state-run Notimex news.

Gunmen Saturday attacked the police station in Morelia, Mochoacan, where Medina was being held, but failed to win his freedom, Lopez said.

Later in the day, suspected members of the cartel attacked soldiers and police in Morelia, Zitacuaro, Zamora, Lazaro Cardenas, Apatzingan, La Piedad and Huetamo in Michoacan, police said, noting three officers died Saturday in Zitacuaro and two soldiers died in Zamora.

In Tijuana, gang members Saturday threatened to kill five officers a week until Police Chief Julian Leyzaola resigns, CNN reported. Three officers have been killed there since last Monday.

Leyzaola, a former army colonel, replaced a police chief who resigned in December after numerous death threats.