Mexican Police Shoot Dead 5 Suspected Criminals - Reports

MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2018) Five suspected criminals were shot dead by Mexican police in the northeastern city of Reynosa, local media reported.

According to the Excelsior media outlet, local residents called police saying that a group of gunmen attacked cars on one of the local roadways.

Police officers arrived at the site and engaged in a shootout with the gunmen that left four male and one more female criminals dead.

The officers also seized two vehicles and fire arms that belonged to the gunmen.

Within recent several years Mexico faced a wave of violence caused by clashes between drug cartels struggling for control over the transit of cocaine to the United States. Since the beginning of 2018, almost 16,000 people have been killed in Mexico, which is 18 percent more than in the same period of 2017.

According to official statistics, more than 31,000 people were murdered in Mexico last year.