3 police shot dead at Mexico City airport

26 Jun 2012, 1:16 pm   -   Source: AAP
Gunmen shot dead three policemen on an anti-drug operation at Mexico City's international airport. (AAP)

Gunmen shot dead three policemen on an anti-drug operation at Mexico City's international airport. (AAP)

Three federal police officers have been shot and killed when they tried to arrest drug trafficking suspects at Mexico City's international airport.

Three federal police officers have been shot and killed when they tried to arrest drug trafficking suspects at Mexico City's international airport.

Airport spokesman Jorge Andres Gomez said the incident took place around 8.50am (2350 AEST) on Monday in the fast-food area of the airport's Terminal 2. The identity and location of the suspects was not immediately clear.

"Finding themselves surrounded," the alleged traffickers "opened fire with their weapons against the federal police," the Public Security ministry said in a statement.

Two federal police officers died at the airport while another died of wounds in the hospital, the statement read.

Federal and local police cordoned off the area and used airport signs to cover the food court windows.

People at the busy airport area hit the ground and rushed to hide in the bathrooms when the shooting broke out. At least 14 shots were fired, Milenio TV reported.

Some witnesses said that police officers had fired on their colleagues. But witnesses contradicted that report.

"I saw police officers running after another policeman that they eventually shot at," Alejandro Suarez, who works at a pharmacy near the food court, told AFP.

"They were all police officers shooting at each other, at least people in uniform," a woman who refused to give her name told Milenio TV.

"We threw ourselves on the ground - there were four civilians shooting at the police," a female witness who also refused to give her name told radio Formato21.

Another female witness said it took five to 10 minutes for police reinforcements to arrive.

Police did not say if the suspects were men dressed as police officers.

Police patrols have increased across the country ahead of Sunday's presidential election.

Benito Juarez International Airport is located within Mexico City. It is the second busiest in Latin America, handling some 24 million passengers a year.

The airport had been exempt from violence plaguing other parts of the country.

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