12 Miles From AZ Border-

[Alpha Mare]

29 Gunmen Dead In Shootout 12 Miles From The Arizona Border

The unofficial death toll for Thursday morning’s battle between rival organized criminal groups has reached 29 according to reports coming out of the Nogales, Sonora area. The shootout occurred approximately 12 miles south of the little used border crossing point in the town of Sasabe, Arizona, located in Pima County.

According to Mexican press reports and official statements a large group of gunmen affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel and traveling in more than fifty vehicles was ambushed on the road to Sasabe between the small towns of Tubutama and Saric.

Since Wednesday evening residents of the neighboring towns reported a high number of pickup trucks and SUV’s traveling on the roads leading to Tubutama. By some estimates close to 100 vehicles assembled in Tubutama Wednesday night where X’s were painted on the windows and red cloths were attached to car doors and rear bumpers for identification purposes.
The purpose of the army of gunmen was a “cleansing operation” to dislodge a rival organized crime group that had seized the trafficking route from Saric north to the Arizona border. According to sources this group in Saric is aligned with the Beltran Leyva cartel and had already survived several encounters with Mexican army troops and federal police.

Residents reported a tremendous level of gunfire between 4:00 and 5:00 AM Thursday on the outskirts of Saric. According to statements from the state prosecutor’s office the group of gunmen traveling in the convoy was ambushed in an area where hills straddle the roadway by the rival group which had dug in on the high ground and directed a withering crossfire on the vehicles.

Municipal police were alerted and arrived first and were greeted by the carnage at the ambush site. At least 10 vehicles littered the roadway and the dead were laying on the road and inside their destroyed vehicles.
The local media was removed from the scene as soon as the army arrived.

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/

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