Monday 15 October 2012

Troops shoot dead 16 gunmen around Mexico

Mexican soldiers shot dead six suspected criminals who reportedly fired on them in two incidents on 14 October, in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas. The attacks occurred in the districts of San Fernando and Nuevo Laredo, Proceso reported. In Pánuco in the east-coast state of Veracruz on 13 October, troops shot dead 10 suspected gangsters who also reportedly had fired on them; arms and ammunition were confiscated, Proceso reported on 14 October. It reported separately that a "young man" was shot dead in a "marginal" area of the port of Veracruz; the victim was described as having heavily tatooed legs. In northern Mexico, a man detained for kidnapping was "beaten and burned" to death in a prison in Ciudad Juárez, hours after being sent there from Veracruz where he had been arrested, Proceso reported on 14 October. The 40-year-old was detained on 9 October in the district of Emiliano Zapata in Veracruz, with five suspected members of a kidnapping gang.