The Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas carried out two ambush-style attacks on Mexican military forces just south of the Texas border. In one of those attacks, cartel gunmen allegedly tried to kidnap two soldiers. The CDN-Los Zetas is one of six Mexican cartels designated as foreign terrorist groups by the U.S. government.
The first attack took place on Thursday morning along a dirt road in a rural area near the border between the states of Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. A group of gunmen ambushed a group of Mexican soldiers who were patrolling the region.
During the attack, the gunmen injured two soldiers and reportedly abducted them. Mexican authorities have not confirmed if an abduction actually took place. The attack triggered a large-scale response as state and federal authorities set up a search operation to track down the gunmen and find the missing troops. Shortly after the abduction, the CDN-Los Zetas gunmen released the injured soldiers who had been taken to a medical center, where they are expected to recover.
The large-scale deployment of security forces in the aftermath of the first attack led to a second clash that took place shortly after 5 p.m., also in a rural area. In that confrontation, authorities killed one gunman, injured a second one, and arrested two women.
The attack comes at a time when the CDN-Los Zetas have been carrying out an expansion campaign into Nuevo Leon and other parts of Tamaulipas. However, the criminal organization has not been able to enter Coahuila, where the Coahuila State Attorney General’s office, along with state police forces, have been very active in keeping them out and raiding any stash houses or attempts by the organization to set up operations in the state.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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