Three police officers were murdered in the early hours of Saturday in southern Chile, victims of an ambush, President Gabriel Boric announced. The crime takes place on the day the country celebrates the anniversary of the police institution.
“In the early hours of the morning, we received the serious and painful news of an attack in the province of Arauco in which three police officers were murdered”, informed the president, who was traveling to the region, on his account on the social network X.
The bodies of the police officers were found charred inside a vehicle on a road in the municipality of Cañete, near the city of Concepción, almost 500 kilometers south of Santiago.
The area is under military protection due to arson fires that occurred in the region, attributed mainly to radical Mapuche groups, the largest Chilean ethnic group, who demand the restitution of ancestral lands.
The attack took place on the day the Carabineiros, the Chilean military police, celebrate their birthday.
Commemoration events were canceled after the murders and the president declared three days of official mourning.
“I guarantee Chileans that there will be no impunity and that we will discover the whereabouts of the perpetrators of this terrible crime,” said Boric, who described the perpetrators of the murders as “terrorists.”
Alongside Boric, the commanders of the Army, Air Force and Navy, as well as parliamentarians and the president of the Supreme Court, would travel to the city of Concepción.
The Minister of Interior and Security, Carolina Toá, also traveled to the region.
“Firefighters received an alert about a vehicle on fire and, when they arrived at the scene, they discovered that it was a Carabinieri patrol,” said the minister before the trip.
“Inside the vehicle, firefighters found three dead, charred employees,” he added.
