San Salvador - (AFP) - More than a thousand soldiers cordoned off a San Salvador neighborhood on Saturday, as part of President Najib Bukela's war on gangs, the second operation of its kind within a month in this violence-torn Central American country.
Since Saturday morning, the Totonisapa region has been "completely" cordoned off, El Salvador's president wrote on Twitter. He said that "more than a thousand soldiers and 130 policemen will arrest criminals" in this area "known for drug trafficking."
And on December 3, the army massed about 10,000 soldiers in the town of Soyapango, adjacent to San Salvador, where about 500 suspected gang members were arrested, according to the latest government tally.
In Totonishaba, the authorities announced that they had carried out the first six arrests of "criminals", without specifying whether they were members of gangs or involved in drug trafficking.
"All terrorists, drug dealers and gangsters will be expelled from this neighborhood, which until a few months ago was a hotbed of crime. Honest citizens have nothing to fear and can carry on with their normal lives," Najib Bukele said in another tweet.
On March 27, Congress, at the request of the President of El Salvador, decreed an emergency regime to combat the escalation of gang violence.
This war on gangs has led to the arrest of more than 60,000 people since March for alleged links to criminal organizations, according to official figures.
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A massive military operation against gangs in the capital of El Salvador