Eight suspected cartel members dead in shootout in Mexico

CIUDAD JUAREZ - A gun battle between suspected cartel members left at least eight dead and one wounded Wednesday in a mountainous area of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, local authorities said.

The state prosecutor's office said the violence took place in Guachochi, one of the largest towns in a mountainous area that is hard to get to, and which is home to the Indigenous people of the Tarahumara ethnic group.

At a crossroads, "eight lifeless people were found, three of them burned, as well as an injured male person, who was transferred for medical attention," the official statement said.

Authorities also found two burnt-out vans.

According to local media, the confrontation involved rival cells of the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most powerful in Mexico, and among the victims was thought to be a local head of the criminal organization.

The Tarahumara mountain area, located on one of the drug routes to the United States, has been rocked for years by violence linked to drug trafficking.

According to reports from Chihuahua newspapers, in recent weeks the clashes in Guachochi have intensified, forcing numerous people to leave the town of some 14,500 inhabitants.

A year ago, in Cerocahui, another town nestled in the mountains, Jesuit priests Javier Campos and Joaquin Mora were killed by a man who broke into a church while chasing a tour guide, who also died in the attack.

Mexico has recorded more than 350,000 killings, most attributed to criminal organizations, since the launch of a controversial military anti-drug strategy in December 2006. - AFP