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Mexico/GunmenBack
[Published: Tuesday December 03 2019]

Mexico hunts cartel gunmen after firefight kills 22

MEXICO CITY 3 Dec (ANA) - Mexican forces hunted Monday for a drug cartel commando behind a bloody firefight in a town near the US border that left six locals and 16 gunmen dead -- the latest security embarrassment for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
At least 60 gunmen terrorized the small northern city of Villa Union over the weekend, riding into town in heavily armed four-by-fours and spraying dozens of houses with bullets before attacking city hall, taking seven hostages along the way, including five minors.
Officials responded by deploying the army, National Guard and state and local police, triggering a series of firefights Saturday and Sunday that left 22 people dead: two kidnapped city employees, four state police and 16 gunmen, according to authorities in Coahuila state, where Villa Union is located.
Witnesses said the gunmen wore the insignia of the Northeast Cartel, a breakaway from the ultra-violent Zetas, a drug cartel founded by corrupt army commandos in the northern state of Tamaulipas in 2010.
Authorities arrested two of the gunmen, who told investigators the cartel's objective was to "come in and hit Villa Union hard" in order to "intimidate" the state government, according to Governor Miguel Angel Riquelme.
Riquelme praised the "bravery" of the group of 15 police who responded to the initial attack, whom he said managed to contain the gunmen even though they were badly outnumbered.
"Within an hour and a half, we had the criminals surrounded," he told radio network Formula.
"Security forces are deployed on the ground and in the air across the region, to ensure this cowardly attack does not go unpunished," the state's emergency response agency said in a statement.
The attack was the latest in a string of security disasters for Lopez Obrador's government since the leftist leader took office a year ago promising a change in strategy against Mexico's powerful drug cartels.
His plan -- summed up in his mantra "hugs not bullets" -- is to attack violent crime at its roots by fighting poverty and inequality with social programs, rather than with the army.
But there are few signs that is working. Mexico appears on track to set a new murder record this year, with 28,741 so far.
Recent high-profile episodes have heightened the pressure on the government.(ANA)
FA/ANA/3 December 2019-----
 

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