Mexican troops shot dead 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa cartel after they came under attack in the northwestern state, the ministry of defense said Tuesday.
Military personnel were attacked on Monday by more than 30 people near the state capital Culiacan, and the ensuing firefight left 19 cartel members dead, the ministry said in a statement.
Sinaloa has seen a surge in violence since the July arrest of the cartel’s co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in the United States.
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The ministry of defense said the cartel members killed on Monday were presumed to be linked to Zambada’s faction.
No mention of any casualties on the side of the military? Hmm
According to coverage from ABC, there weren’t any:
That’s either incredible luck, incredible incompetence on behalf of the sicarios, or something fishy is going on. Thanks for digging deeper!
Or you know actual trained soldiers tend to fight more effectively than random cartel thugs.
The cartels have a long and storied history of not just employing former soldiers, but even being formed by former soldiers.
But yes, if this was really 19 KIA narcos, and zero casualties for Mexican military, there was clearly some lopsided aspect to the engagement. Whether it was luck, training, or tactical competence, I don’t know.
Part of me is envisioning the narcos were all relatively close together and attacked some military convoy or vehicle that either had an M2 mounted, or armored vehicles with gun slits, and they just got mowed down.
If the things I’ve been reading over time are true, the Mexican Army had been having a tough time fighting the cartels because the cartels had military weapons and some ex military leaders.
But recently, the army has been far more effective because their training has been more focused on combating cartels, and those ex military in the cartel are dwindling in numbers.
It’s not luck. The military is actually skilled and has proper equipment. The issue is that military heads are in with the cartels so the clean up never really goes anywhere far.