Bloody Wednesday in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

Eleven murders linked to organized crime swept the city of Sinaloa this Wednesday.

The dead began appearing in the early morning when the bodies of 3 unidentified youths were discovered at 3:00am in the Villas del Sol area of the city.

The 3 victims had their hands and feet bound and showed signs of torture. Forensic evidence indicated that they were shot with a 5.7 x 28mm "matapolicias" weapon.

At 8:00am the body of an unidentified male with multiple gunshot wounds was discovered on the La Costerita highway, in the vicinity of a drug rehab halfway house.

Wednesday afternoon the bodies of 2 more unidentified males with multiple gunshot wounds were discovered on the Culiacan to Tamazula highway.

At noon Wednesday a shootout between 2 groups of armed men in the Guadalupe Victoria neighborhood of Culiacan resulted in 5 deaths.

Among the dead were two locally important underworld figures belonging to the Sinaloa Cartel. One man was identified as "Roque Antrax", a member of the Antrax group of sicarios that works under Mayo Zambada and another was identified as "El Mele", a member of the group loyal to Manuel Torres Felix "el Ondeado".

                                              "Roque Antrax"

The shootout began when a group of five men standing outside a home on Abelardo Medina street were attacked by gunmen travelling in a white VW Passat and a red GMC Sierra pickup.

Four of the five men on Abelardo Medina were killed and one was reportedly injured but was rescued before the authorities arrived. The body of one of the attackers was found inside the VW sedan.

The red pickup was found abandoned a short distance from a military base in Culiacan.

Authorities reported that four of the victims carried identification with the names of Roque Landeros, Adrián Nuñez, César Javier Limón and Ricardo Ontiveros. The body inside the VW remained unidentified.

It was unknown if the killings were the result of an attack by a rival cartel or if they were the consequence of a "ajuste de cuentas" within the local underworld.