San Salvador: Gang members murdered a police officer in his home in eastern El Salvador on Monday, triggering a hunt that ended with officers killing two of his suspected assailants in an exchange of gunfire, officials said.
The policeman, a sergeant identified as Francisco Noe Garcia, was the 20th officer to be killed so far this year, Justice and Security Minister Mauricio Ramirez told reporters.
In 2015, a total of 62 police officers were killed, according to official figures.
El Salvador is one of the most dangerous countries on the planet outside of nations gripped by open war. Most of the killings that take place are attributed to gang-related violence.
Ramirez said Garcia, who headed a rural police division, was "murdered by criminal gang members while he was in his house in Verapaz."
Officers immediately mounted an operation to track down his killers.
Two suspects exchanged fire with their pursuers and were killed, the state prosecutors' service said on Twitter.
AFP
