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23-09-2024
MEXICO CITY: At least 10 more people have reportedly been killed in Mexico’s northwestern state of Sinaloa, bringing the number of people killed or missing to more than 100, as rival cartel factions’ clash, with gruesome violence showing no signs of abating soon.
The latest violence, reported by officials and the media on Sunday, comes after the surprise arrest of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in the United States in late July, which is believed to have unleashed an internal power struggle within the group.
About 70 people have been killed in the state since September 9, mostly in the capital city of Culiacan, the media reported citing tallies from officials and the press.
The media reported that another 51 people were missing as a result of the violence.
The first of the three incidents on Saturday in the central Tres Rios area of Culiacan was a shootout between police and alleged hitmen, after which unknown individuals blockaded a road with cars and motorcycles about 200 metres (650 feet) from the prosecutor’s office.
Separately, security agents were attacked by armed men, who then fled into an apartment building.
An ensuing shootout saw three suspected gunmen killed, one arrested and two soldiers injured, Governor Ruben Rocha Moya wrote on social media.
On Saturday, Rocha travelled to Mexico City to meet President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum.
The federal government also sent 600 soldiers on Saturday to reinforce security in Sinaloa.
Mexican media also reported seven other deaths.
The bodies of five people were left in the street, half-naked and wearing hats, in what is presumed to be a message of intimidation to the warring factions. There were no details about the two other deaths.
Authorities have yet to comment on the deaths.
Zambada, 76, was arrested on July 25 after flying across the US border. He claims he was kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into US custody against his will.
He was detained along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of Sinaloa cartel co-founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in the US.
The wave of violence is believed to pit gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others aligned with Zambada.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leaves office at the end of the month, has placed partial blame on the US, saying it unilaterally planned Zambada’s capture.
US Ambassador Ken Salazar rejected the claim on Friday.
“What is being seen in Sinaloa is not the fault of the United States,” he said, adding that the US cannot be held responsible for “the massacres that we see in different places”.
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a co-founder of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, murder and other charges in a New York court, months after his dramatic arrest and transfer into United States custody.
Zambada entered the plea to the 17 felony counts he faces, which also include money laundering and weapons charges, at a hearing on Friday in Brooklyn, New York.
US Magistrate Judge James Cho ordered that Zambada, 76, be jailed pending trial.
Prosecutor Francisco Navarro called Zambada “one of the most, if not the most, powerful narcotics kingpins in the world”. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
