Mexican Marines attack Gulf Cartel convoys in Matamoros, bodies on the street

San Antonio Express-News:

Northern Mexico's surge of gangland bloodshed continued Friday in Matamoros, with shootouts reportedly leaving streets strewn with dozens of corpses and rumors flying that Mexican forces might have taken down “Tony Tormenta,” a reputed Gulf Cartel capo who is the brother of the imprisoned boss Osiel Cárdenas.

Reports in the Brownsville Herald, La Reforma, and El Norte used unnamed law enforcement sources and witnesses to describe three battles starting about 1 p.m. The Blog del Terror, one of the numerous blogs serving as anonymous forums on the drug violence, reported sniper fire from military helicopters.

As of late Friday, the Mexican government had not confirmed the reports.

The fiercest battle is said to have started about 2:30 p.m. in a neighborhood leading up to the Veterans International Bridge, with the other battles erupting near a convention center and a university campus.

Witnesses said convoys of Gulf Cartel operatives were met by convoys of Mexican marine infantry, with both apparently calling in reinforcements as the confrontations wore on. The dead were said to include both gang members and the military.

According to El Norte, at least one civilian was killed and another was injured. One corpse, said to be a man in his 30s, was in an SUV with Texas tags.

Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillen, also known as “Tony Tormenta,” is said to have become a leader of the Gulf Cartel after his brother was captured.

...

Matamoros is a major city across from Brownsville at the very tip of Texas. Again the Mexican Marines appear to to be the lead element in the fight. They are probably still sorting the bodies at this point, but it appears the Marines intercepted several groups of people from the Gulf cartel which has been in a big fight recently with its former muscle the Zetas.

The Marines also took on a group of Zetas a few days ago and killed about 20 of them just northwest of the area where this fight took place. That fight was across from the Texas border city of McAllen. The cartels are having trouble dealing with the Marines' use of choppers.