At least 16 people have been killed in two terrorist attacks in northern Honduras Crime Stories

One attack involved an attack on the police, while another took place on a palm farm, killing rural workers.

Two incidents of gun violence have rocked Honduras, killing at least 16 people in the Central American country.

On Thursday, gunshots were heard for the first time in a remote palm farm in Rigores, part of the northern city of Trujillo.

Recommended Articles

list of things 3end of series

The spokesman for the National Police in Honduras, Edgardo Barahona, said about 10 workers were killed at the site, although the number is expected to rise.

Barahona explained that some distraught family members came to collect the bodies of their loved ones before they found investigators to prevent what happened.

Local media reported that suspected gunmen opened fire indiscriminately on workers, including some gathered at a church.

Pictures show bodies, some in high-heeled rubber work boots, strewn on the ground outside. According to another report, three sisters were among the dead.

Although no motive has been identified for the attack, northern Honduras has been the scene of agricultural conflicts for decades.

Human rights experts warn that farmers and local workers have been forced off their land by weapons that seek to control the fertile field, resulting in occasional death threats.

After the shooting, the head of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces in Honduras, Hector Benjamin Valerio Ardon, said that the army will provide “all the necessary resources” and “all its employees” to find those responsible.

Separately on Thursday, a second deadly incident occurred in a region in northern Honduras, the Cortes department, near the border with Guatemala.

In that case, the police moved from the capital of Tegucigalpa to Omoa, in Cortes, to carry out an anti-terrorist operation.

But government officials are describing what happened next as a cover-up. According to reports, the police entered a house to search for the suspects and opened fire on them.

Six police officers were killed, including Deputy Commissioner Lester Amador, according to the National Police. He came from the Anti-Maras, Gangs and Organized Crime Police Directorate (DIPAMPCO), a unit within the police force. Suspects have also been killed or injured in the attack.

After the two attacks, the National Police released a wordssaying that “it will continue immediately and intervene directly in the affected areas”.

“The government will take steps to arrest those responsible, protect the vulnerable and ensure full justice for all those affected,” it added.

Honduras was on a multi-year plan to fight crime starting in 2022.

Critics, however, have accused the emergency measures of undermining human rights and empowering law enforcers, allowing them to commit human rights abuses.

But the state of emergency ended in January with the inauguration of right-wing President Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a close ally of United States President Donald Trump, who has prioritized a tough security strategy in Latin America.

In March, Asfura attended Trump’s right-wing “Shield of the Americas” conference in Florida, a regional security forum.