New Delhi, Jan. 22 -- Days after suspected gang members killed 10 Guatemalan police officers, police and soldiers took their new powers granted under a state of emergency to the Barrio 18 gang's center of operations in the north of the capital.

Dozens of police officers and soldiers, some carrying rifles and wearing bulletproof vests or with their faces covered, patrolled the narrow warren of streets in the cluster of neighborhoods called Zone 18 on Tuesday. At a checkpoint, they asked for identification of passing motorists and told some to stand against a wall to be patted down for weapons.

On Wednesday, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said in a press conference that during the first 48 hours of the state of emergency he declare...