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MEXICO: 19 killed as drug gang members, security operatives clash in shootout

Published

7 years ago

July 2, 2017

MEXICO: 19 killed as drug gang members, security operatives clash in shootout

A shootout between armed drug gang members and security operatives in Mexico has witnessed the killing of no less than 19 victims who were caught up in the exchange of gunfire.

The shootout according to reports started in the gang-plagued northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, when two men were shot near a department store in the town of Villa Union, about 24km southeast of the beach resort of Mazatlan.

It later snowballed into a fierce gun battle in which security operatives killed 17 suspects, officials said. Five municipal police officers were wounded, but reported in stable condition.

Police officials attributed the incident to warring drug gang members responsible for recent violence in the state, which is home to Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel.

“We believe it has to do with the transport of drugs and the fight for terrain, for the areas that these groups are fighting over,” Genaro Robles Casillas, the Sinaloa state public security secretary, said at a news conference.

Police sources also revealed that at the scene of the clash, four vehicles, 15 rifles and seven handguns were found.

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