Mexico: Gunbattles near US border kill 2 policemen, 7 attackers

Northern Mexico shootouts kill 2 police, 7 gunmen

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico — Gunbattles between security forces and armed attackers have killed nine people in two states along the U.S. border, Mexican authorities said Thursday.

The Navy says four attackers died in a gunbattle between marines and members of the Zetas drug gang in the town of San Carlos, in the border state of Tamaulipas. The Navy said in a press statement that a convoy of vehicles opened fire on a marine patrol.

Marines detained four suspected gunmen — three of them Guatemalan citizens — and seized 14 rifles and over 3,600 weapons after the clash.

And in the state of Coahuila, two police officers and three gunmen are dead in a shootout in Torreon, prosecutors said.

In Ciudad Juarez, federal police detained an alleged gang member accused of participating in 11 killings.

Suspect Luis Humberto Hernandez allegedly belonged to the “La Linea” gang allied with the Juarez drug cartel. Police said Hernandez relied on a network of lookouts to locate his victims, usually members of rival gangs.

Also Thursday, federal police announced the capture of the Sinaloa cartel’s alleged chief operator in Mexico state, outside the capital.

Suspect Jose Manuel Garcia was allegedly in charge of coordinating cartel activities with local officials.

Finally, federal prosecutors filed drug-trafficking charges against five prison guards at a Mexico City penitentiary who allegedly smuggled almost 48.5 pounds (22 kilograms) of marijuana into the facility aboard a van used to transfer inmates. The guards allegedly intended to sell the marijuana inside the prison.

More than 22,700 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since late 2006.