A shootout between Mexican National Guard troops and suspected drug cartel gunmen near the Tornillo-Guadalupe international bridge left one man wounded and resulted in the seizure of an arsenal of 31 rifles and handguns, including a .50-caliber rifle, authorities said.
The gunfight took place in a border smuggling corridor in the Valley of Juárez that has been a conflict zone for years between the Sinaloa drug cartel and La Linea (Juárez) cartel.
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The confrontation occurred before dawn Sunday, Oct. 20, when a National Guard patrol responded to an alert about an armed group in vehicles traveling on the Tornillo-Guadalupe highway southeast of Juárez, the National Guard said in a news release on Monday.
Troopers ran into the gunmen’s three trucks near a highway toll booth, where the gunmen opened fire, hitting a National Guard vehicle, officials said. Troops returned fire and called for reinforcements as the gunmen’s vehicles fled.