Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican
marines killed six suspected criminals after the gunmen shot at their
Black Hawk helicopter in the drug violence-plagued northern state of
Tamaulipas over the weekend, the navy said Monday.
None of the
troops aboard the helicopter was hurt in Sunday's clash, which left the
Black Hawk with seven bullet impacts, the navy said in a statement.
The
aircraft was on a mission to locate drug cartel suspects when it found
carloads of gunmen in a rural area about 70 kilometers (45 miles) south
of Nuevo Laredo, a city at the US border.
The suspects shot first,
prompting the marines to "fire warning shots in the air to stop the
assailants," but the shooting continued in the area near the state of
Nuevo Leon."The attack was repelled, resulting in the deaths of six people among the group of assailants," the statement said.
The authorities seized four vehicles and six weapons.
The Gulf and Zetas drug cartels have fought each other and the authorities for years in Tamaulipas, a state that has endured brutal turf wars.
It was the third time that a Mexican military helicopter was involved in a gunfight with criminal suspects since May, with the previous two incidents taking place in the western states of Jalisco and Michoacan.
On May 1, suspected members of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel downed a Cougar helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, leaving seven soldiers and a policewoman dead.
On
May 22, a Black Hawk helicopter was involved in a clash with New
Generation members on a Michoacan ranch that left 42 suspects and one
police officer dead. Authorities said the aircraft's guns were used to
contain the shooters but that it did not fire directly at them.
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