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| Eight people killed in string of shootouts in city near US-Mexico border | Eight people killed in string of shootouts in city near US-Mexico border |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Eight people including a 13-year-old girl were killed in a string of shootouts between gunmen and security forces that caused panic in the border city of Matamoros on Sunday, Mexican authorities said. | |
| Related: 'You can’t trust anybody': the Mexicans caught up in the drug war just south of Texas | Related: 'You can’t trust anybody': the Mexicans caught up in the drug war just south of Texas |
| Seven of those killed in the city across from Brownsville, Texas, were presumed criminals, according to a statement from the government of Tamaulipas state. | Seven of those killed in the city across from Brownsville, Texas, were presumed criminals, according to a statement from the government of Tamaulipas state. |
| The girl was a bystander who was at a crowded shopping mall with her family during one of the shootings. The statement said she was struck by a bullet fired by one of the suspects. | The girl was a bystander who was at a crowded shopping mall with her family during one of the shootings. The statement said she was struck by a bullet fired by one of the suspects. |
| The violence began in the afternoon with a traffic stop in which the occupants of an SUV with Texas license plates allegedly opened fire on authorities, and three suspects were killed. Authorities seized weapons, ammunition and packets of marijuana hidden in a suitcase. | The violence began in the afternoon with a traffic stop in which the occupants of an SUV with Texas license plates allegedly opened fire on authorities, and three suspects were killed. Authorities seized weapons, ammunition and packets of marijuana hidden in a suitcase. |
| That unleashed a series of chases and shootouts elsewhere in the city, as suspected criminals blocked roads with buses and other large vehicles to try to impede the movement of police and soldiers. | That unleashed a series of chases and shootouts elsewhere in the city, as suspected criminals blocked roads with buses and other large vehicles to try to impede the movement of police and soldiers. |
| In the second incident, state agents shot dead three armed men who were traveling in two SUVs. More weapons were seized. | In the second incident, state agents shot dead three armed men who were traveling in two SUVs. More weapons were seized. |
| A group of suspects fled from there to the mall, where another gunfight broke out with Mexican soldiers, and the girl and another gunman died. | |
| Matamoros is a stronghold of the Gulf drug cartel, which operates in most of northern Tamaulipas. | Matamoros is a stronghold of the Gulf drug cartel, which operates in most of northern Tamaulipas. |
| In the southern state of Guerrero, another hotspot of violence, at least nine men were shot dead over the weekend after a private party in the municipality of Coyuca de Catalán, state prosecutors reported. As the party was winding down on Saturday, an argument broke out that escalated from words to weapons. |