Mexican soldiers attacked in drug cartel statehouse, authorities say

Mexican authorities report attacks on military personnel and road blockades with vehicles in the northern state of Sinaloa.

According to state police, the violence broke out in an area just north of the state capital, Culiacan.

The state is home to the drug cartel of the same name, and violence has broken out in the past when a cartel leader has been arrested.

However, federal authorities said they had no information about such an arrest at this time.

Local media showed images of burning vehicles blocking roads, but authorities could not confirm this.

“We are aware that military personnel have been victims of an attack,” Sinaloa state police wrote on social media.

“We also know that the roads are blocked by vehicles.”

Governor Rubén Rocha wrote that the attackers set fire to two vehicles “with the aim of blocking the authorities.”

He called for calm but gave no details about the motives for the attack or whether there were casualties.

Local media showed video footage and photographs of the burning vehicles.

Cartels in Mexico often use this tactic to prevent police or military units from reaching a certain area.

Despite the chaos, Sinaloa’s Minister of Public Education issued a statement last night saying classes would continue as normal today.

There are fears that violence will erupt again in Sinaloa after the recent arrests of major Sinaloa drug lords.

In late July, Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, apparently kidnapped Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada — a senior drug boss from a rival faction of the cartel — and forced him onto a plane headed north.

The younger Guzmán apparently planned to turn himself in and took the older Zambada with him for unknown reasons.