For a map, click here. For a map of Durango state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
At least five individuals have been killed in drug related violence in the border area between Sinaloa and Durango state since last Sunday according to Mexican news accounts.
A news report posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango news daily said shootouts in Dan Dimas and Corcordia municipalities have paralyzed some areas. The shootouts were described in the article as alleged since the Sinaloa Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE), or state attorney general, Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez, has yet to report on any incident.
The article said that a rumor of a shootout near the village of Los Angeles, which is about 30 minutes from Concordia had been going around in the municipality since last week. Reaction from residents has been to pull children from school zone Zona Escolar 046.
The president of Concordia municipality, José Eligio Medina Rios in a press interview dismissed reports of any shootouts, and claimed communications with officials from San Dimas municipality ruled out any shootout.
However, a report which appeared last Thursday in El Siglo de Torreon news daily said that at least five individuals have been killed in shootings in the mountain region near Concordia since last week.
Last week three unidentified men were found shot to death in a Hummer SUV in the village of La Petaca in Concordia municipality. Three more unidentified individuals were reportedly shot to death in the village of La Escondida, also in Concordia.
The El Siglo de Torreon report also said that a shootout between drug gang members, presumably members of the Pacifico cartel, and a Mexican Army unit took place in the border area of Sinaloa and Durango states between Sanalona municipality in Sinaloa and Tamazula municipality Durango, which claimed the life of one unidentified individual and wounded two others. The report went on to claim that the unidentified nephew of the late drug capo Ignacio Coronel was among the wounded in the exchange of gunfire.
The source claiming the shootout was identified as Moises Melo, or General de Division Moises Melo Garcia, the recently promoted commander of the Mexican 9th Military Zone.
Residents of Concordia municipality are understandably nervous. Last Christmas Eve 14 individuals were murdered in El Platanar Ontiveros in Concordia municipality by a local drug gang after a Mexican Army unit posted in the village had left the village undefended to go on a counternarcotics operation.
San Dimas municipality has seen its share of drug related violence in the last two years, where several homes had been torched as a punitive measure by drug gangs.
Also, several drug and gang related shootings have been reported in Sinaloa state in Los Mochis, Culican well to the north and in the port city of Mazatlan.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com