A group of cartel terrorists attacked a Mexican police checkpoint in the border state of Coahuila, setting off a fierce shootout. In a span of five days, cartel gunmen carried out four separate attacks on police forces, with the latest taking place on Tuesday morning.
The attack began on Sunday morning near the police checkpoint in Hidalgo, Coahuila, located along the highway connecting the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, with Piedras Negras, Coahuila. A group of gunmen believed to be with the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas pulled up to the checkpoint and began shooting at a squad of Coahuila state police officers.
Breitbart Texas obtained a video from one of the attacks where barrages of gunfire can be heard. In the initial attack, no casualties or injuries were reported. However, in Tuesday’s attack, a state police officer sustained some injuries and had to be rushed to a local hospital in Piedras Negras. An officer with the Coahuila Attorney General’s Office also sustained injuries while responding to the scene to provide backup to the officers. The officer crashed his patrol car into another vehicle. That officer is expected to make a full recovery.
It remains unclear if the cartel gunmen sustained injuries or casualties as they carried out any possibly wounded gunmen when they fled.
CDN-Los Zetas has been sending teams of gunmen to carry out the attacks at various hours — particularly at night or in the early morning. Since the weekend, cartel gunmen have carried out at least four separate attacks on law enforcement. Despite the efforts by authorities to track down the gunmen, they could not make any arrests.
As Breitbart Texas reported, CDN-Los Zetas sent large squads numbering more than 50 and, at times, over 100 gunmen to attack police forces in Coahuila. Unlike Tamaulipas, Coahuila is one of the states that has been actively fighting off the attacks from the CDN-Los Zetas, who are based in Nuevo Laredo and have been trying to expand their territories. CDN has also been waging a fierce turf war with the Gulf Cartel in Reynosa for control of lucrative drug and human smuggling routes.
The region provides a considerable challenge to Mexican law enforcement authorities as the gunmen routinely cross into the neighboring states of Nuevo Leon or Tamaulipas when fleeing from authorities.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and their original Spanish. This article was written by “J.M. Martinez” and “C.E. Herrera” from Coahuila.