6 Killed, 5 Injured in Mexican Border Violence

At least six people were killed and five more were injured during three separate weekend attacks in Tamaulipas border cities.

Tamaulipas state police reported five gunmen were killed during a shootout with Mexican army soldiers in Comales, a community south of Camargo, across the Rio Grande from Starr County.

The Mexican defense ministry said gunmen attacked soldiers patrolling in Comales on Saturday.

At least four gunmen were killed and two soldiers were wounded in the firefight, defense ministry officials said. It remains unclear whether five gunmen were killed, as reported by state police, or four, as reported by the military.

Defense officials said soldiers seized seized about nine pounds of marijuana, 15 firearms, a jeweled handgun, two vehicles, three rocket launchers, a grenade launcher, 27 grenades, four rockets and nearly 2,500 rounds of ammunition.

Defense officials did not say whether any soldiers were killed or if any gunment were arrested.

Officials also reported an explosion outside a house Saturday night on Third Street in the Las Cumbres neighborhood of Reynosa. Five people were injured in the attack, including one child, according to state police. The attack remains under investigation.

And in Miguel Alemán, across the border from Roma, state police said officers found a man’s body Monday morning along Boulevard Lazaro Cardenas. The man appeared to have been shot to death.

State police continues to investigate that homicide.

Scores of people have been killed in firefights and grenade attacks in recent months across northeast Mexico, as the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas — the two dominant and once-allied drug cartels in the region — have battled each other for control of smuggling routes into the United States. Many casualties have been reported during clashes with Mexican military forces patrolling the region, as well.

Source: The Monitor