Two Border Patrol agents wounded

Two U.S. Border Patrol agents were in stable condition yesterday at a Tucson, Ariz., hospital after being shot Thursday by suspected drug smugglers near Nogales. The smugglers fled back to Mexico after the shooting.

Border Patrol officials at the agency’s Washington headquarters said yesterday the agents, who had been tracking a group of suspected smugglers, were ambushed by an unknown number of assailants in a canyon near state Highway 82 close to the U.S.-Mexico border. Both were shot in the leg.

The names of the agents, who took cover and returned fire, were not released. The wounded agents received first aide from Border Patrol agents at the scene, and were transported to area hospitals, one via a Life Flight Medevac and the other by ambulance.

The agents, according to law-enforcement authorities, are believed to be the victims of shooters who used high-powered weapons.

The officers reportedly were on foot checking sensors along a remote canyon area when the shootings occurred. A trail in the canyon, authorities said, is considered a major drug-smuggling corridor.

The authorities said the area is so rugged that FBI agents and Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Department investigators looking into the case had to be airlifted to the canyon site where the agents were shot.

The shootings were the latest in a rising number of assaults on Border Patrol agents assigned in the Tucson sector since Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year. A total of 196 assaults have been recorded during that time period, including 24 shootings.

During the same time in fiscal 2004, 92 assaults were reported, five of which were shootings. The sector is the busiest alien- and drug-trafficking corridor in the country.