MEXICO CITY, May 4 (Xinhua) -- A series of firefights in different parts of Mexico have left at least 15 people dead over the last two days, according to government reports on Thursday.
The first incident saw four soldiers and six suspected criminals perish in two attacks by a group stealing fuel against solders in the central state of Puebla.
In a statement Thursday, the federal government said that the attacks took place in the community of Palmarito, with 10 people killed, another ten soldiers and a criminal injured, as well as 14 suspected gang members arrested.
The Ministry of Defense said the first attack took place at 8:15 p.m. local time when soldiers arrived in Palmarito to investigate the reported fuel theft.
In the statement, the ministry said the gang opened fire on the soldiers and used women and children as human shields to avoid a counter-attack. Two soldiers died in this initial assault and another was injured.
The second incursion took place at 10 p.m. local time as soldiers patrolled the area. Gang members, travelling in vans, opened fire again, with two soldiers losing their lives.
Puebla's secretary of the interior, Diodoro Carrasco, later stated in a press conference that six criminals had also been killed in this attack.
While nine other soldiers and one criminal were injured in the fight, the army troops succeeded in capturing 14 of their attackers, including two minors.
After the attack, Carrasco said that 1,000 soldiers and police had been sent to the area as reinforcements.
On Thursday morning, residents of Palmarito blockaded the highway between the cities of Puebla and Orizaba to protest the operation, in which they alleged an innocent woman was killed.
To the north of the country, fights between criminal gangs in the city of Reynosa, in the state of Tamaulipas, killed five people, said the state government.
Tamaulipas' security spokesperson, Luis Alberto Rodriguez, explained the deaths happened in shootouts between armed gangs and federal forces.
Rodriguez revealed that the criminal groups were fighting to assert control over illicit activities, such as operating illegal gambling dens, stealing fuel and electricity, as well as people trafficking and drug smuggling.
There has been speculation in the local press that those responsible are two factions of the Gulf Cartel fighting for control since the group's leader Juan Manuel Loza, alias "El Comandante Toro", was killed on April 22.
