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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
At least 15 unidentified individuals have been killed in gunfights and executions in Jalisco state Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Mexican press sources.
A news item published on the website of El Universal news daily said that 15 individuals including four police agents in Pihuamo have been killed since Christmas eve.
A news item posted on the website of El Diario de Coahuila news daily reported Christmas day that the bodies of four Pihuamo municipal police agents were found in the village of Los Naranjos. The victims had been abducted from a bullring in Pihuamo municipality during an public event, and led away by armed suspects dressed in military uniforms. A fifth victim was found in Los Naranjos, but the identity had not been established; it is known only that that victim was not a police agent.
Mexican drug cartel shooters and operatives routinely don military uniforms and use falsely marked vehicles as a mean of escaping observation.
The El Universal article quoted an unidentified source with the Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the controlling agency for the Mexican Army, saying that 10 others had died in armed confrontations between armed drug groups in the areas in southern Jalisco state. The source said that army units found the bodies, and that those units were not involved with any exchange of gunfire with armed suspects.
Since a scan of the website of SEDENA failed to turn up any notifications of any shootouts from any regional commands since December 23rd, the source is probably a military zone spokesman, likely the 41st Military Zone based in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco.
Probable gangs involved in the shootout include members of the Jalisco Nueva Generacion and Caballeros Templarios.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com