Shankar Campos said there have been no reports of the gunmen being held, and the suspects have not yet been identified.
“They are not holding the suspects because they do not have the right to ask for this or that,” said Campos.
The Mexican Navy said the convoy was heading towards the island in a fishing vessel called the Alpari, and that there was no incident when the driver of the vehicle veered off the roadway and into the water. The car was found by authorities later.
‘The last thing this nation needs right now is fear’
The gunmen fled to a nearby town, Puebla, near the Caribbean coast, and are now holding two of the suspects in their custody. They also allegedly shot two children during previous attacks, in Guadalajara and Aguascalientes, the Mexican state in the south of the country.
Authorities said the suspects have claimed they had been inspired by Islamic State terrorists in the Middle East to carry out the attacks.
“This is not terrorism; this is terrorism of the worst sort to destabilize the nation,” said Sergio Rubio, a Mexican immigration official. “There is not a single thing that links to any terrorist organization. The last thing this nation needs right now is fear.”
At a briefing Monday morning in Mexico City, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said the government will intensify the crackdown to end “these horrible attacks that leave deep wounds in this country,” he claimed.
“I am asking them to not resort to violence, nor to targeting innocent people who work in the same sector as them,” he said. “This violence only makes their job more difficult.” Pena Nieto promised a “mobilization of all authorities to bring those responsible to justice.”
The government has already been in contact with American authorities to help identify those involved in the assault, his office said.
An image shows the charred remains of a damaged restaurant along with other property in the restaurant district after a drug-related attack on the busy Calle Santa Teresa market. (Photo: REUTERS/Stringer)
In a written statement, Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said the authorities do not yet know why the pair went on the rampage but that “this attack, like the previous two attacks, appears to have been initiated” by drug traffickers “with the expectation of acquiring something of value.”
He also said the suspects may have