Renewed violence follows US arrests of drug lords Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada.
Mexican army personnel have been attacked and roads blocked in an outbreak of violence in northern Sinaloa state, dwelling to one of many nation’s strongest drug cartels.
The Sinaloa state safety secretariat confirmed the assaults round state capital Culiacan – the stronghold of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and his sons – on Thursday.
Gunmen attacked a army patrol within the Penasco space on the outskirts of the town whereas roadblocks have been arrange within the close by locality of Limon de Los Ramos, the secretariat posted on X.
State Governor Ruben Rocha mentioned that assailants set two automobiles on fireplace “with the intention of blocking authorities”. He didn’t specify a motive.
Native media confirmed video and images of the automobiles in flames, a standard tactic deployed to forestall police or army models from reaching a specific space.
There had been fears that wider violence would possibly escape in Sinaloa following the current detentions of top Sinaloa drug lords.
In July, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Chapo, apparently kidnapped Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada – an older kingpin from a rival faction of the cartel – forcing him onto the aircraft and flying him north.
The youthful Guzman had reportedly instructed Zambada they have been going to scope out actual property within the nation’s north, however as a substitute flew him to america.
Guzman Lopez had apparently deliberate to show himself in, and took the elder Zambada alongside for causes that aren’t identified. Each have been detained in El Paso, Texas.
Mexican authorities consider the kidnapping of Zambada might have been linked to the arrest of Ovidio Guzman, one other of El Chapo’s sons, who was detained in January 2023 earlier than being extradited to the US.
Mexico’s state prosecutor’s workplace on Thursday urged US authorities to “urgently” make clear the authorized standing and whereabouts of Ovidio Guzman.
It mentioned in an announcement that he was taken out of US jail on July 23, two days earlier than the arrest of his brother and Zambada.
The US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, mentioned on July 26 that Ovidio Guzman remained in US custody with out elaborating on his whereabouts.
Consultants together with former US Drug Enforcement Administration agent Mike Vigil suspect that Guzman Lopez gave up Zambada in change for advantages for himself and his brother Ovidio.
Zambada appeared in a Texas court docket this month in a wheelchair and pleaded not responsible to costs of drug trafficking, cash laundering and conspiracy to commit homicide.
Guzman Lopez was transferred to Chicago the place he denied drug trafficking costs. He’s at present serving a life sentence in jail.
Solely one in all El Chapo’s sons accused of cartel hyperlinks stays free – Ivan Archivaldo.
The US has supplied a reward of $10m for data resulting in his arrest.