Thursday 30 August 2012

Over 40 dead as cartels fight in Mexico

Thirty people were thought to have died in three days of fighting between two drug cartels in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León, El Universal reported on 30 August. Twenty five were killed on 28-29 August in incidents in and around Monterrey the state capital, a spokesman for the government of Nuevo León Jorge Domene told the daily; he said the Gulf and Zeta cartels were fighting to control drug sales in Monterrey. Victims were found dismembered, shot to death or decapitated, the daily reported; painted messages were left by some victims to indicate they were members of the Zetas. The head of Mexico's fourth military region covering Nuevo León, General Noé Sandoval Alcázar had reportedly said on 27 August that the Zetas were now weaker in north-east Mexico, and Domene said this might have contributed to the latest violence. In other incidents: three were killed in eastern Mexico on 29 August as gangsters fought a gun battle with AK-47 assault rifles outside a roadside grocery between Mexico City and Puebla; four were found dead after a reported gun fight between criminals on 28 August in the northern city of Saltillo, and two corpses were found hanging on 29 August in Acapulco in the western state of Guerrero, El Universal reported on 30 August. The daily also reported that a suspected criminal died on 29 August in a firefight between gunmen and an infantry patrol in the town of Ajuchitlán del Progreso in Guerrero. Early on 30 August, marines and criminals fought a 40-minute gun battle after gunmen ambushed a patrol in the town of Córdoba, in the eastern state of Veracruz, El Universal reported. Three were reported dead though it was not immediately clear on which side.