Three armed suspects were killed in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas as Mexican security forces seized 90 rifles and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition in separate incidents, according to official Mexican news reports.An official news release posted Saturday on the Tamaulipas state government website said that one unidentified armed suspect was killed in an exchange of gunfire in El Mante municipality Saturday afternoon.
A Mexican Naval Infantry road patrol observed armed suspects traveling aboard several vehicles in convoy on a road between Mante and a location called Balneario La Aguja.
Gunfire was exchanged and one armed suspect was killed while other suspects managed to flee the scene.
Marines seized one Nissan Frontier pickup truck, two .45 caliber semiautomatic pistols, two weapons magazines and 46 rounds of ammunition. The victim in the shooting was said to be in his 20s.
Wednesday, a Mexican Army road patrol encountered a number of armed suspects, killing two and detaining five.
According to a separate news account, the military detachment was in Reynosa municipality near a break identified as El Becerro when soldiers came under small arms fire from armed suspect traveling aboard several vehicles.
The two shooting victims were said to be in their 20s, and five other suspects were detained at the scene. Soldiers also took possession of one Nissan Pathfinder SUV, two Ford F-150 pickup trucks, one compact sedan, 16 rifles, 72 weapons magazines and 1,158 rounds of ammunition.
Mexican security forces have also seized 90 rifles and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition in separate operations in the state in the past week.
A Mexican Naval Infantry unit was dispatched to a location in Buenavista colony in Matamoros municipality on a report of armed suspects in the area. Inside a residence marines seized 31 rifles, 8,000 rounds of ammunition, 445 weapons magazines and one Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV.
In Oasis colony in the same municipality, Marines were dispatched to a residence where they found 59 rifles, 1,685 rounds of ammunition, 223 weapons magazines and one Chevrolet pickup truck.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com