| GEO World | | Five gunmen killed in shootout with Mexican troops | Updated at: 1512 PST, Saturday, April 03, 2010
MEXICO CITY: Five gunmen have died in a shootout with Mexican troops in Reynosa, a city just across the US border, in the latest flare-up between suspected drug traffickers and the military.
The confrontation, which took place early Friday, also left three soldiers injured, Tamaulipas state officials said in a statement.
On Tuesday, attackers set up roadblocks in a bid to slow the army's movement, leading to confrontations that left 16 assailants dead in four municipalities in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states.
The Zetas and Gulf cartels, formerly allies, are now locked in a bitter fight over the control of lucrative drug routes into the United States from Mexico's border region.
In other violence, gunmen stormed a Reynosa prison late Friday, sparking clashes that killed three inmates, state officials said, adding that order has since been restored at the detention site.
At another prison close the US border, in Matamoros, 41 inmates escaped on March 25 without violence. |  |
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