Mexico watchdog urges probe of army massacre

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) -- Mexico's human rights watchdog said on Wednesday that troops abused the human rights of suspected rebels who were sleeping in a village school in an operation two years ago in which 11 people died.

The National Human Rights Commission (CNBV) recommended that the armed forces launch an investigation into the bloodbath, which took place in June 1998 when hundreds of soldiers attacked around 15 guerrillas near the village of El Charco, in the southern state of Guerrero.

It also urged the military to instruct its members that operations aimed at public security must not infringe human rights, and especially not the rights of indigenous populations, the CNBV said in a statement.

The dead were suspected members of the Marxist Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), or of a later offshoot called the People's Insurgent Revolutionary Army (EPRI). Troops also arrested 27 villagers after the battle.

The EPR emerged suddenly in Guerrero state in June 1996 at a rally to commemorate the first anniversary of a massacre at Aguas Blancas, where state agents killed 17 peasant activists. The EPRI appeared on the scene about a year later.

The military said at the time that the battle near El Charco, around 170 miles (275 km) south of Mexico City, happened after a patrol surprised the rebels sleeping in a school. Rights groups say the size of the military force and the high death count suggested it was a planned operation.

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