Gunmen shoot dead 3 migrants on U.S.-Mexico border
Source: Reuters
PHOENIX, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Unknown gunmen shot dead three illegal immigrants from Mexico in southern Arizona on Thursday and wounded two others in an attack police said may have been carried out by bandits. Sergeant James Ogden of the Pima County Sheriff's Department said officers found the bodies of two men in a pickup truck in desert some 20 miles (32-km) southwest of Tucson early on Thursday, and the body of third man on roadside nearby. Two other immigrants, a man and a woman, were later treated in a hospital for bullet wounds received in the attack, which occurred on a remote desert back road frequented by smugglers. "The initial investigation suggests the attack was carried out by bandits (as) the road is well known for human trafficking," Ogden said in a telephone interview. He said police were continuing with their investigation, and had taken statements from two further witnesses. More than 1 million undocumented immigrants trek over the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) U.S. border from Mexico each year in a journey fraught with danger. Last year more than 400 people died making the trip. Most of the fatalities were due to dehydration, drowning or vehicle rollovers, although attacks, rapes and robberies are common in the borderlands.
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