Mexico Cartel Battle Kills 29

Fighting forces thousands to flee homes
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 27, 2011 1:40 AM CDT
Mexico Cartel Battle Kills 29
A man in military fatigues lies dead next a truck on a road after a gun battle between rival drug gangs near the town of Ruiz, in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, Mexico.   (AP Photo/Nayaritenlinea.mx)

Yet another bloody battle in Mexico's drug war has left at least 29 bodies in fake military uniforms lying dead among more than a dozen bullet-riddled vehicles in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit. Investigators believe the highway battle between members of the Zetas and Sinaloa cartels began when gunmen ambushed a convoy of gang vehicles, AP reports.

In the nearby state of Michoacan, up to 2,000 people were forced to flee their homes this week by days of fierce fighting between cartel factions, the BBC reports. Officials say the refugees have begun to return their homes after spending several nights in shelters. The conflict between rival factions of the La Familia cartel began Monday but news of the fighting was slow to leak out because local media, on the orders of drug cartels, have largely ceased to cover drug violence, the Wall Street Journal notes. (More Mexico drug war stories.)

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