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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Three unidentified individuals were found dead or were killed in drug and gang related violence in Zacatecas state, according to Mexican news accounts and BorderlandBeat anonymous correspondent, Zac.
"Shootouts and executions continue, near Fresnillo more human remains were found and it's in that city where shootouts have been more common," writes Zac.
According to a news account posted on the website of ZTR Zacatecas news daily, the remains of at least one unidentified individual were found near Fresnillo municipality near the village of El Triunfo.
According to the report, an unidentified individual stumbled on the location Sunday nine days ago while searching for firewood in the sierras, where he saw bone fragments, some human tissue, and some trash, including soda and beer bottles and some clothing. The Mexican Army had been notified and arrived at the location six days ago.
According to a translated quote referring to December, 2012, in the story by an unidentified resident, ""There was a chance that 19 federal police patrols along with the helicopter, made a persecution against such evil people, which took the life of 12 gunmen," said one resident.
It is unclear which gunfight the resident was referring to since a number of raids and gunfights between Mexican security forces and armed suspects took place during the month of December, 2012 throughout the state including in Fresnillo and Guadalupe municipalities.
About the current situation in Fresnillo and Guadalupe municipalities, Zac writes: "Perhaps the most alarming things around the capital have been 1 execution attempt and a brief shootout in plain daylight in busy areas, but... it's more of a constant dripping of violence than big bursts of it, minor shootouts are still a daily thing, usually in colonias in the outskirts. "
According a news report which appeared in the online edition of Hoy Zacatecas news daily, five days ago a business owner, Francisco Montes Tijerin, 75, was shot and wounded outside his business on Avenida Francisco Garcia Salinas near the Centro Comercial Tahon commercial center.
More than two weeks ago an unidentified man was shot and wounded in an intergang gunfight on Bulevar José Lopez Portillo, and an unidentified woman was hurt incident to the shootout when she was hit by a vehicle, according to a separate report in Hoy Zacatecas. Some of the armed suspects involved in the shootout fled the scene aboard a Ford Lobo pickup truck.
According to Zac, two men were executed in Transcoso municipality Monday.
"Last night 2 men were killed in Trancoso, it was a weird night with the football match, rumors of shootings here and there, people celebrating and all that, so it´s not clear what happened and which rumors are true, federal police closed down part of the city center, people who were watching the game at bars in the area were not allowed to leave for a while, but one news site says it was a false alarm and others don't mention anything...I have my doubts about the false alarm thing, but as you can imagine it was a noisy and moved night so it´s hard to know what exactly happened," writes Zac.
According to news report posted on the website of Zacatecas en Linea news daily, two men identified as Juan Carlos Saucedo and Juan Carlos Cordero Tenorio were found shot to death on a dirt road next to a mall. A third individual, identified as Juan Carlos Garcia Cordero, 41, was briefly detained a short distance away by local Policia Metropolitana. He was subsequently escorted for medical attention by Policia Federal and Policia Investigadora units.
According to a report the two victims were shot with small caliber weapons, .22 or .25 caliber, and since no spent shell casings were reported at the scene, the weapon used could have been a revolver. Cartel affiliated gangs typically prefer to use 5.7mm, Super .38 or 9mm pistols in their enforcement activities.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com