Drug hitmen kill Guatemalans jailed for murders

GUATEMALA CITY, Feb 26 (Reuters) Drug hitmen walked into a Guatemalan jail at visiting time and murdered four policemen being held on charges of killing three Salvadoran politicians last week, police and media said.

''It is confirmed that the four bodies are them. It's a drug trafficking thing,'' police spokeswoman Maria Fernandez told Reuters.

The policemen, including the head of an anti-organized crime squad, were arrested on Thursday for the murders of three deputies from the Guatemala-based Central American parliament and their driver.

The victims were found dead in a burned-out car near Guatemala City on Tuesday. Guatemalan officials said their murders were drug related.

Fernandez said inmates at the Boqueron prison, 37 miles (60 km) from Guatemala City had taken police and other officials hostage.

Relatives of other prisoners in the jail said on local radio that the prison guards let the attackers enter the jail yesterday at visiting time and that shots were heard soon after.

REUTERS SHB RN1012