Gunmen in Chiapas Kill Soldier
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TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico — Gunmen fired on an army roadblock near the capital of Chiapas state, killing a soldier in an hourlong clash Friday.
It was the first attack on the military since a Jan. 12 cease-fire ended two weeks of fighting with Indian rebels who rose up New Year’s Day.
But the National Defense Secretariat said the attack was not connected to the uprising.
There was no claim of responsibility for the shooting, which occurred on a highway just west of Tuxtla Gutierrez.
The National Defense Secretariat said a “small group of unidentified civilians” was responsible.
The shooting heightened tensions in Chiapas, where angry landowners blocked a state attorney general’s office this week to demand that authorities prosecute peasants who have seized land since the rebellions.
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