A U.S. Border Patrol agent opened fire when he was attacked by men with rocks shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday near the Rio Grande in the Lower Valley, an agency spokesman said.No injuries were reported in the incident, which remained under investigation Thursday night. The attack, officials said, is part of an increase of assaults on agents in the El Paso region.
The unidentified agent was about five miles east of the Zaragoza Bridge when he was assaulted with rocks by a group of possible undocumented immigrants, who ran back into Mexico, said Agent Ramiro Cordero, a Border Patrol spokesman.
The assault took place on U.S. soil, but investigators were attempting to determine where the attackers were when the agent fired, officials said.
"Our agent was on U.S. soil, of course. They (attackers) were in the river. They were in the dry riverbed," Cordero said.
Mexican authorities, who were called for help, found no evidence that anyone was wounded, Border Patrol officials said.
Assaults on agents have been "growing significantly," Cordero said. "It depicts the pressure we are putting on the border because they are going to extreme measures."
In fiscal year 2005, the Border Patrol recorded 43 assaults against agents in the El Paso sector, compared with 21 in fiscal 2004.
Nationwide, agents were assaulted 687 times in fiscal year 2005, which ended in September, compared with 354 the previous year.