12 killed in Miguel Alemán, Reynosa street battles
MIGUEL ALEMÁN, Tamps. — Nine suspected cartel gunmen and three Mexican army soldiers died during separate gun battles Thursday in Tamaulipas border cities.
The Mexican Defense Ministry said eight attackers were killed during a shootout with army soldiers on a ranch near Miguel Alemán on Thursday. Three soldiers were killed during the gunfight.
Soldiers said suspected cartel gunmen attacked them during a patrol near the Pato de Oro ranch south of the city, near the Marte R. Gomez dam. Soldiers fired back at the assailants.
No further details about that attack were immediately available. The incident remains under investigation.
In Reynosa, soldiers said they were attacked Thursday night during a patrol along Paulina Street in the city’s Los Fresnos neighborhood.
One gunman was killed during the shootout with army soldiers.
The military seized two shotguns, a handgun, ammunition, boots and an armored vehicle after the attack.
The deadly battles are the latest in an ongoing struggle among the Mexican military and the two dominant drug cartels in northeast Mexico — former allies the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas.
Hundreds of suspected cartel members, military personnel and innocent bystanders have been killed since February, when the two cartels dissolved their alliance and began fighting each other for control over prized drug smuggling routes through northeast Mexico into South Texas.
Government officials estimate more than 22,000 people have been killed in drug violence across Mexico since late 2006.
