MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Soldiers in a northern Mexican border city allegedly killed five young men who were unarmed and driving to their homes in a pick-up truck, a local human rights group said on Monday, calling on the government to investigate the shootings.
The victims were shot on Sunday while driving in the city of Nuevo Laredo near the U.S.-Mexico border, the Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee said in a statement, before announcing on Monday it had filed the complaint with federal prosecutors on behalf of the victims and their relatives.
A sixth person in the truck survived and was hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
Mexico’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegation.
Nuevo Leon Mayor Carmen Lilia Canturosas on Monday said the army along with the Attorney General’s Office and the National Human Rights Commission are investigating the case and collecting evidence.
None of the victims were minors, she added.
The incident in an area known for violence comes as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his allies in Congress boost the Mexican military’s power over public security. Congress last year extended the role of the armed forces in public security tasks until 2028.
The statement also said that family members of the victims and a journalist who arrived at the scene were met with a violent response from military soldiers.
“The Mexican army is out of control,” said Raymundo Ramos, head of the Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee. “Prosecutors have to clear up what happened and the president must stop protecting (the soldiers).”
In September, Congress gave the army control over the National Guard, a change that drew criticism from rights groups and international agencies, including the United Nations.
Tyler Mattiace, a Mexico researcher for Human Rights Watch, said the killing highlights a faulty strategy to reduce crime.
“Sending soldiers out onto the streets with weapons of war has led to more violence, not less,” Mattiace said.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Additional reporting by Brendan O’Boyle and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
