Gunmen with the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas wounded two Mexican police officers during an ambush-style attack. The attack is the third of its kind since Thursday, as police and military forces attempt to hold back the CDN-Los Zetas from setting up operations in Coahuila. The CDN-Los Zetas is one of six Mexican cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.
The attack took place on Saturday early morning, just after 4:30 a.m. near the town of Hidalgo, Coahuila, an area near the border between that state and Tamaulipas — two Mexican states just south of Texas. According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by Coahuila State Police forces, two police officers were patrolling a rural dirt road when they spotted a white pickup that matched the description of one of the vehicles used earlier in the week during an ambush attack on Mexican Army soldiers.
The police officers tried to intercept the vehicle, but as soon as they approached, the gunmen drove off at a high rate of speed. The officers temporarily lost sight of the gunmen due to the clouds of dust and the poor visibility at night. It was during that moment that the gunmen managed to stop and set up an ambush-style attack that caught the officers by surprise as the gunmen unloaded a burst of gunfire.
The two officers sustained multiple injuries, including a gunshot to the face of one of the officers. After the attack, the gunmen sped away. Responding officers rushed the wounded police to local hospitals. One of the officers had to be moved to the state capital since his injuries required more specialized care.
The ambush attack comes soon after a similar attack on Thursday, where gunmen injured two Mexican Army soldiers, and tried a second ambush where police forces killed one gunman, injured a second one, and arrested two female gunmen.
The attacks are attributed to the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas, who are based out of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. The terrorist organization has been behind numerous recent attacks on law enforcement in Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and, to a lesser extent, Tamaulipas, where state officials have provided them with a safe haven. The CDN-Los Zetas have been linked to thousands of abductions, murders, and kidnappings of innocent people. The criminal organization also has a large-scale extortion operation with the help of city officials, where most medium and small businesses are forced to pay a protection fee.
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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