SAN SALVADOR – Around 10,000 troops have surrounded the city of Soyapango in El Salvador as part of a massive crackdown on gangs, President Nayib Bukele has announced.
All roads leading to the city have been blocked, and special forces have been searching houses for gang members.
Officers have also been stopping everyone attempting to leave the city and checking identity papers.
The operation is part of a massive crackdown on gangs after a surge in violence earlier this year.
The justice minister said 12 people had been arrested so far.
Soyapango is one of El Salvador’s largest cities and is home to more than 290,000 people. The city – which sits just 13 km (8 miles) west of the capital San Salvador – has long been known as a hub for gang activity.
“As of this moment, the municipality of Soyapango is totally surrounded,” President Bukele wrote on Twitter. “Extraction teams from the police and the army are tasked with extricating all the gang members still there one by one.”
He added that ordinary people “have nothing to fear” and said that the crackdown was part of “an operation against criminals, not against honest citizens”.
Images released by the government showed heavily armed troops clad in body armour and carrying assault rifles outside the city. (BBC)
