Three confrontations between Mexican security forces and suspected drug criminals in Nuevo Leon since last Sunday has left a balance of two dead suspects and five wounded including three Nuevo Leon state police agents, according to Mexican news accounts.
A detachment of the Mexican 7th Military Zone exchanged fire with armed suspects early Sunday morning near the intersection of calles Primero de Enero and Insurgentes in the Sierra Ventana sector.
The unit was sent to the location after the Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) received reports about drug sales in the area.
A vehicle with five armed suspects traveling aboard a vehicle fired on the Mexican Army patrol at about 0140 hrs Sunday morning. Return fire from the military apparently disabled the vehicle, which the suspects subsequently abandoned. One suspect died and was left at the scene.
Inside the vehicle soldiers found a rifle, seven magazines and 154 rounds of ammunition, and an amount of marijuana and crack cocaine.
Later that day in the same sector, a Mexican Army patrol was fired on by armed suspects, The unit had been sent to the area on reports about gunfire in the area.
Luis Mendoza Contreras, 22, died and David Ulises Arzola Martinez, 18, was wounded after receiving gunfire from Mexican soldiers near the intersection of calles Emiliano Zapata and 24 de Julio.
It is unclear if the two men were involved in the attack on security forces.
Lastly three Agencia Estatal de Investigaciones (AEI) agents were hurt in a car crash following a pursuit of armed suspects early Sunday morning.
The pursuit began near the intersection of Calle Rangel Frias and Avenida Lincoln in the Lincoln colony when armed suspects aboard several vehicles threw a hand grenade at a patrol of the Grupo de Reaccion Inmediata (GRI).
The grenade failed to detonate.
The subsequent pursuit ended when the driver of the Dodge Avenger carrying the agents crashed into a power line transmission pole.
AEI functions as a state major case squad, and the GRI is an adhoc grouping of Mexican Federal, state of municipal security elements originally formed to react to criminal operations such as road blocks and shootings.