El Salvador president deploys police and army to crack down on gangs

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Agency
17 May 21:03

The intensive security measures follow the murder of a police officer by gang members in Nueva Concepcion.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele speaks during a news conference in San Salvador, El Salvador, June 28, 2022 (REUTERS)

5000 Salvadoran soldiers and 500 members of the National Police have been deployed to the municipality of Nueva Concepcion over the murder of an officer there, President Nayib Bukele announced.

“Since dawn, we established a security perimeter around the municipality of Nueva Concepcion, Chalatenango, with over 5000 elements from the @FUERZARMADASV and 500 @PNCSV, to search for the culprits behind the homicide, the entire gang structure and their collaborators who still hide in that area,” Bukele said in a tweet: noting that the security measures were taken in relation to the murder of a Police officer of the National Civil Police (PNC) by gangsters who are still on the run.

Ante el homicidio ocurrido ayer, de un agente de nuestra @PNCSV, por parte de pandilleros que aún se encuentran en algunos sectores de nuestro país, escondidos, huyendo del Régimen de Excepción…

Desde esta madrugada, establecimos un cerco de seguridad alrededor del municipio de… pic.twitter.com/6r8BxuLBDb
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 17, 2023

“They will dearly pay for the assassination of our hero,” Bukele continued.

Yesterday, the PNC announced that an officer was murdered in the city of Nueva Concepcion by gang members while patrolling the area in the first recorded murder since May 10, 2022.

The police also stated that a "terrorist" had been apprehended on the scene and that they were working to apprehend any accomplices.

This comes in accordance with Bukele's Territorial Control Plan, a strategy for reclaiming gang-dominated areas.

In March 2022, 62 people were killed in some of the bloodiest killings since the country's civil war ended three decades ago, intensifying his anti-violence drive.

El Salvador has long been regarded as one of the most violent countries in the world. The government has apprehended and imprisoned nearly 50,000 accused terrorists since March, as per El Salvador's presidency.