MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Sixteen gunmen and two soldiers were killed during a confrontation early Sunday at the popular Mexican resort town of Acapulco, the National Defense Secretariat said.
Army troops began receiving fire when they arrived on the scene late Saturday, following an anonymous tip, the secretariat said in a statement.
The clash lasted several hours, during which "five people were arrested and 16 gunmen were killed," and "a captain and a soldier" died, it added.
An officer and eight troops were also wounded in the confrontation.
During the operation, troops seized 36 rifles, 13 shotguns, two hand grenades, 13 fragmentation hand grenades, 3,525 cartridges, 180 magazines and eight vehicles, according to the secretariat.
Acapulco, a major sea port on Mexico's west coast, is also a stronghold of rival drug cartels who are fighting a bloody war to control drug trafficking concentrated in the northern part of the country, close to the border with the United States, the world's top consumer of cocaine.
Since taking power at the end of 2006, President Felipe Calderon has gambled his presidency on the fight against organized crime, deploying some 36,000 troops in a nationwide clampdown.
The Mexican government blames the war between drug cartels for the majority of the 7,700 homicides in the country since 2008, although Calderon has said that killings have dropped in some of the most volatile states.
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