Three dead in Mexico army clash with drug gang

Mexican troops and police shot dead three suspected drug hitmen armed 
with grenades in a fierce gun battle in a town near the U.S. border 
on Monday.

Soldiers fought around 20 armed men after being attacked with 
grenades following a search of a suspected drug safe house in Rio 
Bravo, across the border from McAllen, Texas, witnesses told Reuters.

Three gunmen died in the battle and 10 soldiers and policemen were 
injured, the security forces said. Ten people were arrested.

"The aggressors threw dozens of grenades and there was a lot of blood 
on the street. Some civilians were badly hurt and taken to hospital," 
said local journalist Ely Enriquez.

The powerful Gulf Cartel and its notorious armed wing, the Zetas, are 
influential in many areas on the border north of the industrial city 
of Monterrey.

Suspected drug gunmen killed a well-known local politician in Rio 
Bravo in November, turning the quiet agricultural town into a 
flashpoint in President Felipe Calderon's military assault on drug 
gangs.

Calderon has mobilized some 25,000 troops and federal police to fight 
powerful organized crime gangs and drug cartels since he came to 
power a year ago. He sent 3,000 troops and federal police to Rio 
Bravo in December following the murder of politician Juan Antonio 
Guajardo.

Calderon swore to "close down crime" in a televised New Year's 
address to the nation on Monday. He urged Mexico's local authorities, 
often accused of corruption and links to drug gangs, to help federal 
forces.

"I invite all municipal and state governments to unite forces in this 
fight," he said.

In 2007, more than 2,500 people were killed nationwide in 
drug-related murders despite the military clampdown on traffickers.

The Bush administration says Mexico is having success in the 
anti-drug war, disrupting cocaine routes to the north and forcing the 
price of the drug up in U.S. cities last year due to shortages.
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