Three policemen die in Mexico airport shoorting

Two federal police officers suspected of working for drug traffickers opened fire on fellow officers in a crowded food court at Mexico City’s international airport, killing three policemen as panicked witnesses dived for cover.

The suspects were captured in airport surveillance video and have been fully identified but remain at large, the federal Public Safety Department said in a statement.

The officers killed were on an anti-narcotics mission and had gone to the airport to catch the two suspects in the act of drug trafficking, the statement said.

Two officers died at the scene, and another died of his wounds at a local hospital. The department did not offer any other details about the botched mission.

But it said the two officers are part of an alleged drug trafficking network that includes officials from several federal and local government agencies assigned to the airport.

“The Federal Police has identified the two officers who opened fire and several investigative units are now focused on capturing them,” the department said.

The airport said in a press statement that the terminal and flights were operating normally following what it described as “a dispute in an open-access area”. But the food court remained blocked to public access for hours after the shooting.