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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
As many as 30 armed suspects have been killed in an apparent intergang gun battle in western Mexico state Sunday, according to several Mexican news accounts.
A news account published on the website of El Economista late Sunday say that gunfights between armed gangs associated with Los Zetas and Michoacan state based Los Caballeros Templarios ended in an area known as El Cerro de la Culebra, which is adjacent to Michoacan state.
News reports also indicate elements of the Mexican Army may have also been involved in the fighting. Reports say many of the dead have been removed from the scene, which a common practice with Los Zetas.
A report published on the website of El Sol de Zacatecas news daily said that fighting began at around 1500 hrs Sunday afternoon in Luvianos municipality. As of publication no security forces have entered into the battle area, which also includes Cerro de la Campana and Caja de Agua.
South central and western Mexico have been undergoing a number of security incidents, such as in Jalisco, Michoacan and Guerrero states. Uncredited news reports have indicated that Los Zetas are undergoing a internal struggle for power, which may have left the criminal gang vulnerable to attack from their rivals.
This latest bloody incident has not yet been confirmed by local authorities, but if it is confirmed it will be one of the bloodiest confrontations since last spring's intergang war in northern Sinaloa state which claimed, by this writer's count, the lives of 57 over 10 days. That gun battle included a number of drug cartels including Los Zetas, Beltran-Leyva and Juarez cartels against the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com