Rantburg.com
A total of four armed suspects were killed in northern Sinaloa, two in El Fuerte municipality Monday, according to Mexican news reports.
According to a news report which appeared in the online edition of El Diario de Juarez news daily, Sinaloa state ministerial agents encountered armed suspects near the village of El Chiripa in El Fuerte municipality, killing one suspect.
A separate news report posted on the website of Vanguardia news daily identified the suspect as Gabino Zamora Flores, 31. Sinaloa state police observed a vehicle at around 1110 hrs with armed suspects aboard, but were fired on. Police seized one AK-47 rifle following the encounter.
Police then requested reinforcements from Choix, Ahome and El Fuerte to continue pursuit of other armed suspects fleeing the scene.
Police eventually intercepted the fleeing suspects, killing a second suspect.
Choix municipal president, Juan Carlos Estrada Vega was quoted in a news report in El Debate news daily that has he has requested an increased "federal presence" in his municipality, claiming the problems in Choix have been building over a number of months. He said that 600 people in 10 villages in the area have been affected by the problems caused by local criminal groups, although he did not elaborate.
Members of the Sinaloa state bar association have been critical of the government's response to problems in the region, according to a separate El Debate news report. Roberto Perez Jacobo and Martin Lopez Felix charged that Sinaloa state government "apathy" has kept federal forces from the area in the face of increasing violence over the previous months.
The fighting, especially in Choix has been the result of increasingly hostile competition between groups sympathetic to the Sinaloa drug cartel, and the Beltran Leyva Organization. The Beltron Leyva Organization has enlisted aid from allied drug cartels such as the Juarez cartel and Los Zetas.
Meanwhile in Los Mochis municipality, some 60 kilometers southwest of Choix, two armed suspects were killed and four were wounded in two separate incidents Sunday, according to an El Universal wire dispatch which was published in the online edition of El Diario de Coahuila news daily.
The first incident took place in Tabachines colony near a mall two unidentified individuals were shot to death by armed suspects with AK-47 rifles. The victims were traveling aboard a vehicle when they were struck by gunfire.
In the second incident, four unidentified individuals were shot and wounded in a drive by shooting on Calle 7th in Ruben Jaramillo colony.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. His latest work of non-fiction, The Wounded Eagle: Volume 2 went on sale September 1st at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com.