(Mexico City) Ten “delinquents” were killed Monday in an armed clash with security forces on a road in the state of Nuevo Leon, in northern Mexico, according to authorities.
Security forces were “assaulted by gunfire from individuals traveling in three armored vans,” Nuevo Leon security official Gerardo Palacios reported on Facebook. “Result: 10 offenders killed, 3 armored vans seized,” he added.
Four police officers were injured, including one by gunshot and the other three when their vehicle overturned, the official said.
The shooting took place on a road connecting Nuevo Leon to Nuevo Laredo, a border town with the United States in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas.
The region is hard hit by violence linked to organized crime and drug trafficking, and the roads between the two states are frequently the scene of kidnappings, disappearances and robberies.
Mexico has recorded more than 340,000 murders and some 100,000 disappearances, mostly attributed to criminal organizations, since the launch of a controversial military counter-narcotics offensive in December 2006.