Four police officers were wounded following a shootout with more than a dozen gunmen armed with weapons including a machine gun in Mexico City, officials have said.

The suspects were also carrying grenades and a sniper rifle.

Police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch said 14 people had been detained, while two kidnap victims, apparently being held against their will, were freed.

He said a total of 150 officers, soldiers and three helicopters participated in the operation, which came after local residents reported armed men holding kidnapped people captive in the area.

“A considerable amount of drugs” were also found near an abandoned restaurant the gang had apparently been using as a safe house, Mr Garcia Harfuch said.

It happened in Topilejo on the southern edge of Mexico City.

Mountains to the south of the capital have long been used as criminal hideouts.

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Mr Garcia Harfuch is no stranger to major drug gangs operating in Mexico City.

In 2020, some two dozen gunmen ambushed his armoured vehicle on one of the capital’s main streets.

The attack left him with three bullet wounds and his two bodyguards and a bystander dead.

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