Authorities in Mexico announced on Friday that 10 military personnel and 19 suspected gang members were killed in a wave of violence surrounding the arrest of an alleged cartel leader who is the son of convicted cartel drug kingpin Joaquín Archivaldo “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera.
In a blow-by-blow description of the operation to detain Ovidio Guzmán López on Thursday, Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said that cartel gunmen opened fire on troops with a half-dozen .50-caliber machine guns.
The Mexican army was forced to call in Blackhawk helicopters to target over two dozen cartel vehicles, including trucks mounted with gun platforms. The cartel members managed to down two of the military aircraft, causing “a significant number of impacts” in both aircraft, said Sandoval….