Shootout on border kills two, may mark start of drug turf war

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico -- Mexican federal agents killed two suspected drug runners in a shootout Thursday near the Texas border, where authorities fear a turf war is under way following the arrest of a reputed drug lord.

Thursday's shootout happened in the town of Ciudad Miguel Aleman in Tamaulipas state, where Osiel Cardenas' Gulf cartel is based. One person was injured.

Since Wednesday, drug-related violence has killed four people and left three wounded in the region running from the border city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, to Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas.

"What's happening on the border is very sad. It's battles between different groups linked to organized crime that are without a doubt the result of repercussions caused by the capture of Osiel Cardenas," said Nuevo Laredo Mayor Jose Manuel Suarez.

Cardenas was arrested March 14 after a shootout with Mexican soldiers in Matamoros.

He faces six counts of drug trafficking, organized crime, money laundering and weapons possession.

Government help sought

Suarez urged President Vicente Fox to send federal police and soldiers to help local authorities cope with the wave of violence.

On Wednesday, police in the nearby city of Nuevo Laredo killed another gunman in a shootout in Nuevo Laredo, 80 miles northwest of Ciudad Miguel Aleman.

Two people were injured in the shootout, just yards from where the mayor was presiding over a flag-raising ceremony.

Later Wednesday in the nearby border city of Reynosa, authorities discovered the body of a local authority who was shot twice in the head.