still identifying the victims of a series of gunbattles Tuesday that left several dead and more injured amid a scene of shot-out cars

Mexican officials Wednesday said they were still identifying the victims of a series of gunbattles Tuesday that left several dead and more injured amid a scene of shot-out cars, homes and businesses.Pedro Sosa López, a chief of Tamaulipas state police department, said six men were confirmed dead. One was identified as Jose Alejandro Rivera Torres, a civilian. On Tuesday, reports of injuries and deaths varied widely, with some reports of as many as 12 people killed.Sosa said no others had been identified and that he could not confirm reports that a high-ranking Gulf Cartel boss was among those killed or possibly captured.He said seven alleged assailants were being detained but did not have further details.
The gunfire volleys between federal police officers and suspected gang members occurred in six parts of the city and were attributed to the Gulf Cartel's struggles to maintain control of one of the key pathways for smuggling drugs into the United States.This city is said to be key territory for the cartel's drug-smuggling organization and its assassins, the Zetas. It is across the Rio Grande from McAllen and is one of Mexico's most important manufacturing centers.The violence involved automatic weapons and grenades and began when police stopped a vehicle at a checkpoint in an upscale neighborhood of Reynosa, witnesses said. That set off running gunbattles through the streets, with gangsters commandeering vehicles and using them to block intersections.
Witnesses said the battles raged on for more than an hour Tuesday morning. Civilians ran for cover and children crouched under desks.
“We were hearing the gunfire,” said Enrique Marquez, assistant director of a middle school near one of the gunbattles. “I was there with my microphone, telling everyone to be calm, to exit calmly.”All got out safely, he said, but that school and at least one other remained closed Wednesday for fear of more violence.
The gunfire was over when Martin Marquez arrived to open his florist shop Tuesday, but evidence of the violence lay everywhere.
The front window was a lattice of bullet holes, broken glass filled the show room, and a mirrored door in a back room was shattered.
“We came to see this,” he said. “Total disaster.”He marveled at the one thing that had survived unscathed — a shelf with small statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.“Not even touched,” he said.

Posted in: Mexico