Mexican army troops opened fire on a truck carrying migrants from a half dozen countries, and six migrants from Egypt, Peru and El Salvador died in an event that President Claudia Sheinbaum described Thursday as “deplorable.”
Ten other migrants were wounded in the shooting. Sheinbaum did not say how many migrants from each country had been killed, and Mexico’s foreign relations department was not immediately able to provide details.
Peru’s Foreign Ministry confirmed one Peruvian was killed and demanded “an urgent investigation” into the killings. The two countries have had damaged relations since a 2022 diplomatic spat.
Sheinbaum said the two soldiers who opened fire on Tuesday, her first day in office, had been turned over to civilian prosecutors for questioning, but apparently had not yet been charged. It was the worst killing of migrants by authorities in Mexico since police in the northern state of Tamaulipas killed 17 migrants in 2021.