Mexican army accepts rights commission's recommendations involving slayings by soldiers

MEXICO CITY – Mexico's Defense Department says it will obey a recommendation by the country's National Human Rights Commission that the army investigate the commission's allegation that soldiers executed up to 15 criminal suspects in late June.

The department says it will abide by the recommendation, which requires it to compensate victims of the June 30 slayings or their relatives. The army is also required to do more to train soldiers to avoid such killings and to ensure military personnel don't alter crime scenes.

The department said Thursday that it accepted the recommendations even though it does not agree with all the findings of the human rights report.

The commission ruled in late October that five soldiers had probably executed 15 suspects after a gunfight at a grain warehouse in southern Mexico.