Mexico police arrest 17 over youth camp attack

  • Published

Police in Mexico have arrested 17 people in connection with last week's attack on a Christian youth camp.

Mexico State Governor Eruviel Avila said six had already confessed to the attack, in which a youth group was rounded up, beaten and robbed.

Five girls were raped during the ordeal, which lasted for several hours.

The Christian group was camping in an ecological park near the town of Ixtapaluca, in Mexico state.

Governor Avila said 15 men and two women had been detained in connection with the crime.

He said some of the stolen items had been found in properties occupied by those detained in the nearby town of Chalco.

State prosecutor Alfredo Castillo said among those arrested were two police officers and a former member of the military.

Some 90 members of the Christian youth group were sleeping in tents in the Colibri ecological park when the attackers burst into the camp firing shots into the air.

The campers were rounded up and held at gunpoint while their belongings were ransacked.

Mr Castillo said five girls were then raped, and another three sexually assaulted.

The park is in a hilly region with no mobile phone coverage so it was some time before the alarm was raised.