19 killed in suspected cartel shooting in Mexico

A shootout between assumed drug cartel hitmen has killed 19 people in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua, the state government announced.

“They’re two criminal groups fighting over drug trafficking routes to the United States,” Chihuahua’s attorney general Cesar Peniche told Reuters.

Security forces discovered 18 bodies on Friday evening at the place of the gunfight in the municipality of Madera, and a wounded man picked up at the scene later succumbed of his wounds, the state attorney general’s office announced in a declaration.

They additionally acquired 18 long firearms, two vehicles and two grenades, the statement said, adding that the hunt for armed men and the investigation of the site was proceeding.