Drug cartel suspects killed in Mexico

Ten suspected drug cartel members have been killed in a gunfight with soldiers and police in eastern Mexico, authorities have said.

The clash erupted on Thursday after security forces were shot at from a house as they drove down an avenue in the city of Perote, the Gulf-coast state of Veracruz public security agency said.

“As a result of this clash, nine men and one woman were killed,” the agency said in a statement.

Officials say preliminary information indicates those killed were likely members of the Zetas drug cartel.

The officials also said police seized 10 automatic rifles, cartridges, ammunition and T-shirts and caps with fake logos of Mexican’s federal police and Veracruz state investigative police.

Founded by former elite military troops, Zetas is known as a vicious gang blamed for much of the violence that has plagued Mexico in recent years.

But its leadership has been hit by authorities in the past two years.

Zetas kingpin Miguel Angel Trevino was captured in the northeastern border state of Tamaulipas in July 2013, while his predecessor, Heriberto Lazcano, was killed in a shootout with troops in October 2012.