FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2014 photo, new pipelines to carry gas from Texas to Mexico, eventually reaching the city of Guanajuato, are laid underground near General Bravo, in Nuevo Leon state, Mexico. In Mexico's Puebla state, gunmen using local residents as a human shield opened fire on a Mexican army patrol investigating fuel pipeline thefts, killing two soldiers and wounding a third, the military said Thursday, May 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File) (The Associated Press)
MEXICO CITY – The Mexican army says two soldiers were shot to death and a third wounded when troops investigating a pipeline fuel theft came under fire from gunmen using townspeople as a human shield.
The confrontation late Wednesday in the central state of Puebla marked an escalation of recent conflicts in which fuel thieves have largely taken control of some towns.
The defense Department said Wednesday a patrol was dispatched to the town of Palmarito to investigate reports of an illegal pipeline tap.
When soldiers arrived, they came under fire from assailants who took cover behind a group of women and children.
The soldiers did not return fire because the attackers were using the townspeople as a human shield.
The army is also increasingly facing civilian resistance in drug eradication patrols.
Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.