Cartel gunmen targeted ground forces, military aircraft and Culiacan city's international airport, Mexican officials say as they detail operation to nab drug lord Ovidio Guzman
The operation to detain Ovidio Guzman, the son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, has unleashed firefights that turned the northern city of Culiacan into a war zone, authorities said.
The running shootouts killed one Culiacan policeman and wounded 17 police officers and 35 military personnel. The gunmen also shot up airport buildings in a bid to prevent authorities from flying the captured cartel boss out of the city, but, Sandoval said, authorities anticipating the resistance had loaded Ovidio Guzman, nicknamed "El Raton" , onto a military helicopter to fly him back to Mexico City.
The scope of Thursday’s violence was such that Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha said cartel gunmen showed up at local hospitals, trying to abduct doctors and take them away to treat wounded fighters. Culiacan residents posted video on social media showing convoys of gunmen in pickup trucks and SUVs rolling down boulevards in the city on Thursday.Juan Carlos Ayala, a Culiacan resident and Sinaloa University professor who studies the sociology of drug trafficking, said many Culiacan residents may still support the cartel.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard confirmed that the government had received a request in 2019 from the United States for Guzman's arrest for purposes of extradition.
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