* Six Die in Shooout Between Mexican Army and Gunman in Northern Mexico
Published by Junior Staff Writer on January 26, 2010
Four suspected gunmen and two soldiers died in a shootout on a stretch of the Mexico City-Piedras Negras federal highway in northern Mexico, the Nuevo Leon state Public Safety Secretariat said. The shootout occurred Sunday in San Cayetano de Vacas, a town outside the city of Doctor Arroyo. The secretariat’s communications center received word of the shootout and sent reinforcements to the scene. A military checkpoint is located near the town, the secretariat said, adding that soldiers inspect vehicles and passengers as part of efforts to fight drug and arms trafficking. Army 7th Military Zone spokesmen have not released any information yet on the incident.
Nuevo Leon, which is on the border with the United States, is one of the Mexican states most affected by drug related violence. Over the weekend, the body of a federal judicial official based in the eastern state of Veracruz was found. A “narcomessage” was left on the dismembered body of Nayeli Reyes Santos in which “Los Zetas” claimed responsibility for the killing. Los Zetas, a group of army special forces veterans and deserters who initially worked as hitmen for the Gulf cartel, may now be operating as a cartel, some experts say. The body of the woman, who was kidnapped last Thursday, was dumped in Boca del Rio, a city on the Gulf of Mexico.
Army troops captured Juan Carlos Tarabay Castillo, a suspected Gulf cartel member in charge of overseeing operations in several states, in the tourist district of Veracruz city two days before the judicial official was abducted. Officials have not said whether the killing was linked to Tarabay’s arrest.
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