For a map, click here. You can read past news reports on the fighting in Choix, Sinaloa by clicking here and here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Mixed groups of Mexican federal security forces including Mexican Army units have begun to redeploy to Choix municipality in Sinaloa following reports of a large number of shootings, according to various Mexican news accounts.
A Saturday afternoon news item posted on the website of El Diario de Coahuila news daily, quoted an El Universal news story saying four more dead were found Saturday in Choix municipality near the village of Lorito. The unidentified victims were killed three days before. The find was made from an anonymous telephone call.
In a news report on the website of El Siglo de Durango news daily, several recent incidents have forced security forces to re-enter an area that only a few weeks ago was the location one of the most violent large scale intergang fighting since the summer of 2010.
According to a news item on the website of Azteca Noticias news daily, gunfights have taken place in Culican municipality and in Choix in recent days with at least one dead and three wounded. The Choix gunfight took place last Tuesday afternoon, lasting five minutes. A number of wounded were taken to a local medical clinic.
Periodico Expreso news daily reported on their website Thursday that two died in Choix and three were wounded.
Choix municipality was the location last May where several armed operatives from the Beltran-Leyva cartel, Juarez Cartel and Los Zetas had combined to fight operatives from the Sinaloa cartel. The fighting in the area began last April 28th and lasted several days. It spread to other municipalities including Guasave and Culican totalling, by this writer's count, 56 dead. Eventually Mexican Army and Naval Infantry units totalling 600 effectives filtered into Choix municipality attempting to cordon the western approaches to the area.
Unconfirmed news reports at the time said a number of cartel operatives had escaped the cordon to the east into Chihuahua state and passed Mexican Army road patrols.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
© Copyright 2012 by Chris Covert. You must obtain permission to reprint this article.