Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - Gunmen shot at a convoy carrying the governor of a violence-wracked border state, killing one of his bodyguards and wounding two other agents.
The federal Attorney General's Office said on Monday that it did not appear that Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes Baeza was the target of an assassination attempt. State investigators believe the shooting erupted over a traffic altercation between the bodyguards at the back of the convoy and armed men in two other cars, the office said in a statement. It did not provide further details.
Reyes Baeza said gunmen in the two cars fired high-powered weapons on Sunday night at a vehicle two cars behind his in a convoy in the state capital, Chihuahua city. The two wounded agents were in stable condition on Monday and one of the attackers was admitted to hospital with a gunshot to the head. The other attackers fled.
Chihuahua state Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez said fingerprints showed the detained attacker was a former soldier. She said police found one of the gunmen's cars abandoned and burned on the side of a highway on Monday morning.
Heavily armed gangs battling for turf on the doorstep of the US narcotics market have increasingly challenged the government on all levels, even ambushing troops sent to battle the cartels.
Reyes Baeza asked federal officials to investigate because he said the assailants fired high-powered weapons that Mexican law says can only be used by the military. The federal Attorney General's office said it was investigating that scenario.
The convoy attack came two days after the police chief of Ciudad Juarez, the biggest city in Chihuahua, bowed to crime gang demands to resign because they threatened to kill at least one of his officers every 48 hours.
Signs posted by unknown people appeared around the city of 1.3 million on Sunday applauding the resignation of chief Roberto Orduna while threatening to behead Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz and his family - even those living across the border in Texas - if he continues "helping you know who" - people it did not specify.
"Perverse minds may be taking advantage of the difficult circumstances in Ciudad Juarez to destabilise and stop the government's work," said Jaime Torres, a city spokesperson.
Reyes Ferriz had assured residents before Orduna quit that his government is in control of the city's 1 700-member police force, which officials have been purging of officers considered untrustworthy.
Federal officials say more than 6 000 people died in drug-related violence across Mexico last year, and no state suffered more than Chihuahua. Ciudad Juarez alone recorded 1 600 killings.
In Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas, police on Monday were investigating the charred remains of three men found inside cars, including a local union leader. - Sapa-AP