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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of five armed suspects died in an armed confrontation with municipal police in Los Mochis municipality in Sinaloa state late Friday night, according to Mexican news reports.
A news report posted on the website of El Debate news daily early Saturday morning said that the gunfight began at about 2345 hrs on Friday and lasted until 0110 hrs Saturday morning.
The confrontation began in Valle Bonisto subdivision where local police were dispatched on reports of armed suspects in the area. When the police unit arrived they came under small arms fire from armed suspects who were hiding inside a residence. That sparked a nearly 90 minute long standoff which ended with five armed suspects dead and two police agents wounded.
The El Debate report said that police demanded surrender and were rebuffed. Police then used tear gas on the residence, and assaulted the position with gunfire.
The El Debate report also said that a top local drug dealer identified as Abraham Valencia Isabel Valdez AKA Patatos was among the dead. Another armed suspect killed in the gunfight was identified only as El Charro.
Among the armaments seized in the aftermath were three AK-47 rifles, three 9mm pistols and one AR-15 rifle.
Apparently an unidentified female was detained at the scene as well.
The article said that elements of the Mexican 89th Infantry battalion appeared at the location to provide additional security.
Earlier Friday another confrontation took place at around 2200 hrs according to a separate El Debate news report. Four armed suspects attacked two individuals in the Montecarlo subdivision, wounding one with a gunshot and the other with a stab wound in the chest.
The four suspects fled the area. A subsequent police search failed to turn up any suspects.
A news report posted on the website of Milenio news daily reported two other victims of drug or gang crime in Sinaloa state Friday.
- In an industrial zone of Los Mochis a man identified as Alonso Acamoto Heredia, 23, was found shot once in the head.
- Elsewhere in Sinaloa state, a man identified as José Genaro Lopez Flores, 41, was found shot to death in sindicatura San Blas in Las Flores subdivision of El Fuerte municipality.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com