Daily Times

Multiple clashes on Thursday between Mexican security forces and alleged criminals left at least 16 people dead in the violence-plagued southern state of Guerrero, the military said. A first skirmish occurred in the town of Tecpan de Galeana, near the Pacific coast, where two were killed and four more injured. Later, security forces battled with a criminal group that had attacked a military base in the same area, killing 14 gunmen, according to a statement by the SEDENA national defense secretariat. Guerrero, one of Mexico’s poorest states, has endured years of violence linked to turf wars between cartels fighting for control of drug production and trafficking. Last year, 1,890 murders were recorded in the state, which is home to the beachside resort city of Acapulco, a former playground of the rich and famous now blighted by crime. In early October, the mayor of Guerrero’s capital city was killed less than a week after taking office, with his grizzly decapitation sparking outrage around the country. Farther north on Thursday, in Guanajuato state, a car bomb detonated outside a police station, wounding three officers, local officials said.