Three Chinese police officers, who were wounded in a dramatic
gunfight on Sunday with a group of alleged drug traffickers in
southwestern Yunnan Province, are in a stable condition,
according to the local government.
The three injured officers have been transferred to the Dehong
Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture hospital from Yijiang County
hospital, where the clash occurred, and will undergo surgery in the
next two weeks, said an official with the prefecture's publicity
office who declined to give his name.
The gunfight occurred at about 3:00 PM on Sunday in Zhina Town,
which borders Myanmar, when the officers, from Dehong Prefecture
and neighboring Baoshan City, were carrying out a surveillance
operation. Three police officers were killed in a hail of bullets
and three others injured.
Local police are hunting for the drug traffickers who escaped
after the gunfight, said the official, but he refused to give
details of the suspects.
The families of the injured have arrived at the hospital to take
care of them and the local government has compensated the families
of the dead officers.
(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2007)