Mexican army helicopter crashes, killing 11
(Updates with details, eyewitness reports)
By Miguel Garcia Tinoco
URUAPAN, Mexico, April 18 (Reuters) - A Mexican army helicopter crashed during anti-narcotics operations in western Mexico on Friday, killing 11 soldiers.
The Bell 212 helicopter went down at around midday in a rural area in Michoacan state, a major front in the government's army-led war against drug cartels.
Officials did not give the cause of the crash.
"There are 11 men dead, including a colonel, and one soldier was injured," said a spokesman for Michoacan's state attorney general's office.
Pieces of the wrecked helicopter lay on the ground, surrounded by the scattered bodies of the dead in their olive-green uniforms.
Eyewitnesses said they heard the aircraft's engine cut out as it tried to land. "The motor stopped and the helicopter plummeted to the ground," local resident Agustin Vargas said.
Some 50 police, doctors and forensic scientists cordoned off the area and began combing through the wreckage.
Michoacan is a flash point in President Felipe Calderon's war on drug cartels. Its green hills and avocado fields hide methamphetamine labs and landing strips for planes moving cocaine to the United States.
The state has become a key battleground between local allies of the Gulf Cartel from northeastern Mexico and others backed by traffickers from western Sinaloa state headed by Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.
Calderon launched his war against drug gangs in Michoacan, sending his first deployment of troops there after taking office in Dec. 2006. He later widened the army campaign to other parts of Mexico.
Some 900 people have been killed in drug violence this year, and 2,500 were murdered in 2007, including soldiers.
Drug gangs have become increasingly brazen, engaging in open-air gun battles with troops and federal police. The Gulf Cartel this week openly advertised for army troops to desert the army and join its squad of Zeta hit men. (Additional reporting and writing by Robin Emmott; Editing by Eric Walsh))
