Carabineros – Chile: Three agents found dead inside a patrol car that was set on fire in an ambush

Three police officers were killed early this Saturday in an ambush in the Cañete commune in the Biobío region of south-central Chile, according to Chilean authorities.

According to reports, a group of criminals opened fire on the police patrol, which contained three officers, before setting the car with them on fire.

The victims were identified as Sergeant Carlos Cisterna Navarro and Corporals Sergio Arévalo Lobos and Misael Vidal Cid.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced three days of national mourning across the country and assured that the incident was about A “cowardly attack”,

“This morning we received the serious and painful news of an attack in the Arauco province in which three police officers were murdered,” he wrote on the social network X.

“I assure Chileans that there will be no impunity And we will discover the whereabouts of the authors of this terrible crime,” said the President, who was scheduled to visit Cañete this Saturday.

For her part, Interior Minister Carolina Toha said in a video published on social networks that an “extremely serious attack” had occurred on Saturday night and that the bodies of three officers had been found.Calcined,

“Firefighters received a report of a vehicle fire and when they arrived at the scene, they discovered it was a Carabineros patrol,” he said.

The attack took place in Chile’s southern macrozone, a region whose population has in recent years experienced arson attacks against churches, burning of homes, armed attacks against drivers on rural roads, and deaths of both Mapuches, farmers, and police. .

The deaths of the three police officers come on a symbolic date for Chile’s law enforcement and security forces.

On this 27th April, Chile Police Institute turns 97 And its board had planned a celebration to commemorate that date.

But after the events of Saturday morning, Ricardo Yáñez, director general of that organization, suspended the program.

through social networks

“On this important date, once again we mourn with sadness those who give their lives for others; For order, security and country.”

Ricardo Yáñez was one of the first officers to arrive in the area on Saturday morning and assured that he felt “sad” and “angry”:

He asked passionately, “Why are they killing us? Why are they still torturing us?”

He said, “I have no record of the death of any police officer in my 38 years of service, and on the day of our anniversary, not one, but three people were brutally murdered. It was not a coincidence, it was not accidental Was.”

“Enough is enough (…) The only thing we do is fight for the safety of our compatriots.”

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