Mexico City, Sep 18 (IANS) At least 30 civilians have been killed in a wave of violence in northwestern Mexico’s Sinaloa state, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said.
Speaking during President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s daily press conference on Tuesday, Sandoval said the federal government was increasing security in the region to stop the violence, which has also claimed the lives of two soldiers.
Authorities have arrested at least 30 suspects linked to criminal organisations and seized 115 firearms since violence began in the state on September 9, Sandoval was quoted as saying by news agency Xinhua.
The recent violence erupted after clashes between rival drug trafficking groups, one led by Ismael “Mayo” Zambada and the other by “Los Chapitos”, the sons of imprisoned Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Zambada, a longtime associate of ‘El Chapo’, was arrested in the United States on July 25, sparking a clash between the Sinaloa cartel’s two main factions, according to authorities.
Mexico’s president said his administration, whose term ends this month, was working to stop the fighting and protect the region’s residents. “We are following what is happening in Sinaloa,” the president told reporters at Mexico City’s National Palace.
-IANS
RK/GKT
