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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of nine unidentified individuals were shot to death in Sinaloa state Christmas eve, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to a news report originating from an El Universal wire dispatch published on the website of El Porvenir news daily, the president of Concordia municipality, Eligio Medina RÃos, told the press that armed suspects entered the village of El Platanar de los Ontiveros and started shooting at residents who were on foot.
Among the dead was the spouse of a member of the village counsel.
Medina RÃos telephoned Sinaloa governor Mario Lopez Valdez to ask for emergency aid for the area.
It is unclear where in Concordia municipality El Platanar de los Ontiveros is, except that it has been noted it is in a remote mountainous area of Sinaloa state.
The report also notes that many residents of the area have fled violence, including those from the villages of La Cieneguilla, El Tiro, El Llano and Zaragoza.
Concordia itself sits on Mexico Federal Highway 40, the northern-most contiguous major east-west road in Mexico. The highway connects the seaport of Mazatlan in Sinaloa state on the Pacific coast to Reynosa and Matamoros in Tamaulipas state.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com