Mexican army attacked and roads blocked in Sinaloa state, authorities say

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities said Thursday that there have been attacks on military personnel and roads have been blocked with vehicles in the northern state of Sinaloa.

State police said 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 know that military personnel have been attacked,” Sinaloa state police wrote on their social media accounts. “We also know that roads have been 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 did not specify the motives of the attack or whether there were casualties.

Local media showed videos and photos of the vehicles in flames, a tactic often used by cartels in Mexico to prevent police or military units from reaching a certain area.

Despite the chaos, Sinaloa’s education minister issued a statement Thursday night saying classes would continue as scheduled on Friday.

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, 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.