Senior Nicaragua police chief killed

MANAGUA: A senior police chief who co-founded Nicaragua's modern police service was murdered in front of his home by unidentified gunmen, officials said Thursday.
Commissioner Buenaventura Miranda, 57, was killed late Wednesday in the city of Boaco, 75km northwest of the capital Managua, where he was in charge of the regional department.
Authorities were investigating the possibility he was gunned down by criminals sought by police.
President Daniel Ortega described the murder as a "cowardly attack".
Nicaragua's national police chief, Aminta Granera, vowed the perpetrators would be caught and punished.
"Wherever they are, we will look for them until they are brought to justice," she said.
Miranda helped set up the country's police force when it was formed 37 years ago after leftwing Sandinista rebels took charge.
He sat on the National Police Council which ran policing matters across the country.
Unlike its northern neighbours in Central America, Nicaragua does not suffer rampant gang-related crime and is generally considered one of the safer countries in the region.
But Ortega said organised crime and drug smuggling were an "outside destabilising factor that has cost the lives of many Nicaraguans and the lives of many police brothers." — AFP