Seven ministerial police officers and four suspected cartel gunmen died in a firefight after the gunmen ambushed a police convoy July 9 in the municipality of El Fuerte, Sinaloa state. Four injured police officers were flown by helicopter to hospitals in Los Mochis, Sinaloa state. Authorities said the police officers were traveling from the neighboring Choix municipality to an undisclosed location. A leader of Los Mazatlecos, an offshoot of the Beltran Leyva Organization that lost its influence in 2010, was reportedly among the dead gunmen.
Recent intercartel violence and conflicts between cartels and the military in northern Sinaloa state have spurred the Sinaloa state government and the Mexican military to send reinforcements to secure the area. In response to a nearly five-day firefight between the Mexican military and gunmen in El Fuerte and Choix beginning April 28, the Sinaloa state governor announced the deployment of 300 troops to northern Sinaloa state. Three days before the July 9 incident, media reports indicated that a mix of military and law enforcement had recently deployed to Choix. After the July 9 incident, authorities announced another deployment of an unspecified number of marines and at least two helicopters.
This increased violence is not isolated to Sinaloa state. It is part of an ongoing conflict in rural areas of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range, including areas of Chihuahua state. During the April gunfight in Choix, there were reports of gunmen traveling back and forth across the Chihuahua state-Sinaloa state border. These activities indicate that criminal organizations are interested in territories that do not correspond to state or municipal borders.
According to unconfirmed reports, gunmen associated with Los Zetas had joined the gunmen engaged with military forces in Choix in April. While the reports remain unverified, the gunmen's brazen tactics in confronting government authorities fit with the Zetas' behavior. Also, the support of the much larger Zetas organization would help explain the sudden resurgence in reported Beltran Leyva Organization activity against the Sinaloa Federation in the federation's home territory. If the Zetas are indeed involved with Los Mazatlecos in the recent fighting in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains, holding the area against the rival Sinaloa Federation would give the Zetas access to valuable areas for drug production as well as a staging ground for future attacks against the Sinaloa Federation.
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