Posted on 02/17/2009 5:09:50 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Reports say 20 injured and that five who died were soldiers
MEXICO CITY — Running gun battles between army troops and suspected gangsters killed as many as 10 people today in the border city of Reynosa.
Another 20 people were reported injured in the firefights, which involved automatic weapons and grenades, according to local press reports. El Universal newspaper in Mexico City reported that at least five soldiers were killed
There were no immediate official figures on the number of dead and wounded.
An industrial hub that's home to many U.S.-owned factories, Reynosa is considered the territory of the Gulf Cartel drug-smuggling organization and its assassins, the Zetas. The city borders far South Texas, across the Rio Grande from McAllen.
The battles came just a week after a clash between troops and gangsters killed 21 people in Chihuahua state, bordering West Texas. The dead in the Feb. 10 battles included one soldier, 14 presumed gunmen and six hostages that the gangsters had kidnapped in the town of Villa Ahumada, about 40 miles south of the border. Three more alleged gangsters were killed by the army in Villa Ahumada late last week.
Tuesday's battles came as anti-army demonstrators marched in the city of Monterrey and closed international bridges in Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Matamoros and Ciudad Juarez. All the cities, except Juarez, are considered the territory of the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.
Mexican officials have dismissed the protests, which include women and children, as paid for by the gangsters.
"There are reasons to believe this deals with the Gul Cartel and the Zetas," Natividad Gonzalez, governor of Nuevo Leon state, which includes Monterrey, told reporters Tuesday. "We are facing a clear challenge by organized crime groups against society and the government."
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Build the fence!
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
*border battle bump*
“Idiotboy?”
Oh, you mean Zero!
And could you please translate maquiladoras? thanks. Those YouTubes on this gun fight were amazing. I’m glad they are across from Texas. What if it were in California? We have a bunch of metro-sexuals here and what-me-worry types who wouldn’t have the faintest idea what to do if this spilled across the border.
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