MEXICO CITY—Seven people were killed in a shootout between the army and suspected drug cartel gunmen in the northern Mexico border city of Nuevo Laredo Wednesday.
The shootings were the second time in as many weeks that large-scale violence has hit Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.
Police in the border state of Tamaulipas said that military personnel were attacked, and that no soldiers were killed, but seven presumed attackers died.
The shootout took place on a roadway about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the U.S. border. State police said there had been “risk situations”—usually a reference to gunfire—at several points in the city, but that the outbreaks had been controlled.
In late November, gunfire in Nuevo Laredo forced the cancellation of classes and an advisory from the U.S. Consulate to shelter in place.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the shootings in November came in response to the arrest of a cartel leader, but did not elaborate. The city has long been dominated by the Northeast cartel, an offshoot of the old Zetas gang.
The U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo canceled visa appointments for the day.
