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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of seven Sinaloa state police agents and four armed suspects were killed Monday in an ambush in El Fuerte municipality in Sinaloa state, according to Mexican news accounts.
A news item posted on AnimalPolitico.com Monday said that Sinaloa state ministerial police agents exchanged gunfire with armed suspects in an ambush on the Los Mochis to El Fuerte road near the village of Tetamboa in El Fuerte municipality. In addition to the seven ministerial agents killed, four other police agents were wounded in the ambush.
News reports late last week said the Mexican federal security forces had or were planning to redeploy to Choix municipality following gunfights in Choix which killed two and wounded three. Other news reports added that four unidentified individuals were found shot to death near the village of Lorita. Choix has as recently as last May been the scene of some of the bloodiest intergang fighting since the summer of 2010. That fighting involved drug gangs from the Sinaloa Cartel, Juarez Cartel, Beltran-Leyva Cartel and Los Zetas drug gang.
El Fuerte is directly southwest of Choix municipality.
According to the Animal Politico news item, three days before the latest encounter Sinaloa governor Mario Lopez Valdez said state police forces would begin to enter Choix.
According to a news item posted on the website of El Debate news daily, among the four dead armed suspects was John Paul Lizarraga, AKA The Hundred, a local operative with the Beltran-Leyva drug cartel, which operates in the El Fuerte and Choix municipality. Along with the body, police found grenades, one Barrett .50 caliber rifle and two AK-47 rifles.
The El Debate news item also said that 200 effectives including Sinaloa state police agents, Policia Federal and Mexican military were in El Fuerte.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com