Mexico must probe police gunfight

A US-based human rights group urged Mexican prosecutors Thursday to investigate whether police committed extrajudicial executions after a "shootout" left 42 suspects dead, raising questions about the lopsided death toll.

Human Rights Watch joined security experts and relatives of the drug cartel suspects in questioning the official account because only one officer was killed and three people were detained in the gun battle.

"Given Mexican security forces' poor human rights record, a rigorous and transparent investigation is critically important to determine if indeed there was proportionate use of force during a shootout, and if there were extrajudicial executions," said Daniel Wilkinson, Americas managing director at Human Rights Watch.

Top federal police officials have rejected suggestions of a massacre, saying forensic tests proved that all the suspects fired their weapons after refusing to surrender during the gun battle on a ranch in the western state of Michoacan.

Authorities believe the suspects belong to the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, which has killed at least 28 police and soldiers since March in the neighboring state of Jalisco.

Mexico's governmental National Human Rights Commission opened an investigation and demanded detailed reports from the authorities to "find out the truth" about what happened.