Anti-Drug Czar Escapes Attack in Mexico City

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s anti-drug czar and his wife escaped uninjured after gunmen on motorcycles fired at their car Sunday.

Mariano Herran Salvatti’s bodyguards exchanged fire with the gunmen. One bodyguard was wounded in the leg, and one of the attackers was hospitalized with a gunshot wound, news reports said.

The afternoon attack occurred on a main street in the southern part of Mexico City. It was not clear whether the four attackers on two motorcycles--there was a gunman and driver on each--were trying to assassinate Herran or kidnap him. Herran was appointed Mexico’s top anti-drug prosecutor in March 1997.