Three dead near Miguel Alemán

No injuries reported after attack at Reynosa's ‘Boys Town'

The Monitor

Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas — Three people were found dead Thursday morning, including a man and woman found shot to death inside a vehicle along a rural highway, police said.

The homicides came just hours after two grenade attacks were reported Wednesday night in Reynosa’s red light district, known on both sides of the border as “Boys Town.”

Tamaulipas state police said a man and a woman were found shot to death in a vehicle near the 83 kilometer mark along Mexico Highway 2 — the primary route that connects border cities south of the Rio Grande.

Another man was found dead in Los Guerra, a small community just west of Miguel Alemán, police said.

The fatalities come amid a recent streak of grenade attacks in Reynosa, where several incidents occurred late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

State police said one of the grenades exploded near a municipal police installation in the area also known as la zona de tolerancia, or, “the tolerance zone,” a district in the city open to prostitution and narcotics use where visitors pay an entrance fee. Commonly known as Boys Town, the red-light district is located on Reynosa’s north side, west of the city’s downtown.

No injuries were reported, police said, but there was property damage from the grenade blast.

A second grenade failed to detonate at a nearby plaza in the Aquiles Serdán neighborhood, where Boys Town is located, police said. Federal police continue to investigate.

City officials reported another “situation of risk” after blockades were reported over bridges at the Anzalduas Canal. The blockades were cleared early Thursday morning and it remains unclear whether there were any injuries.

Wednesday night’s grenade attack came less than 12 hours after officials cleared similar explosives from a city bridge.

City officials reported a grenade was found along the Broncos bridge about 9 p.m. Tuesday. The bridge runs south of the stadium for the city's baseball team of the same name.

Shortly before noon Wednesday, municipal officials said the incident had ended.

The area remained open to the public as authorities investigated the area, but they strongly advised people to stay away.

No injuries were reported in connection with that explosive.

Before Wednesday, the latest grenade attack that ended with an explosion occurred April 22 at the Reynosa municipal police station, where officials said there was little property damage and no injuries.

The grenade attacks have risen since February, with battles between authorities and suspected drug smugglers coinciding with a turf battle between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas — the once-allied dominant drug cartels in northeast Mexico — as they vie for control of narcotics transport routes into Texas.