MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two policemen died after people attacked officers and forest rangers looking for suspected illegal loggers Tuesday in a community near the Popocatepetl volcano outside Mexico City, officials said. Authorities said a civilian also has died from a bullet wound.

The government of Mexico state said in a statement that in the midst of the confrontation a gunshot hit a civilian. Residents then grabbed five police officers, dragged them to a community building and severely beat them, it said.

A force of 150 police officers was sent in to rescue their colleagues, but two of the five officers who had been beaten died later, the statement said.

State officials said the civilian wounded by a bullet died at a hospital and an investigation was underway to determine who fired the shot.

No arrests had been made in any of the deaths.

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