Two drug traf fickers killed near border

MEXICO CITY ( AP) – Two top drug traffickers have been killed in predawn shootouts Saturday with federal forces in the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas, authorities reported.

The Tamaulipas security spokesman’s office said the men were killed in separate confrontations, which left highways littered with burned-out vehicles.

Julian Loisa Salinas, better known as “Comandante Toro,” was killed in a clash with marines in Reynosa, a city across the border from McAllen, Texas.

Loisa Salinas reportedly was the Gulf cartel’s local leader in Reynosa. Authorities had tried to capture him a number of times, leading to gunbattles with his gang. In early April, two U.S. citizens were reported wounded in one such gunfight.

On Saturday, photos showed burned-out cars, trucks and buses littering streets in Reynosa. State authorities said his supporters had set fires and tried to block roads in an unsuccessful effort to help him escape.

Luis Alberto Rodriguez, the state security spokesman, said there were a total of 32 highway and street blockades, 11 of which were erected using burning vehicles. Such vehicles are usually hijacked from their owners by armed men and then set on fire.

Nine businesses were burned and 18 vacant lots were set on fire.