TIJUANA, Mexico — Massive, running gunbattles broke out between suspected drug traffickers on the streets of this border city Saturday, killing 13 people and wounding nine, law enforcement officials said.
All of the dead were thought to be drug traffickers, possibly rival members of the same cartel who were trying to settle scores, said Rommel Moreno, attorney general of Baja California state, which includes Tijuana.
Eight suspects and a federal police officer were hurt, none gravely, said Agustin Perez Aguilar, a spokesman for the state public safety department. The suspects are being held on suspicion of weapons possession among other possible charges.
Police recovered 21 vehicles, many with bullet holes or U.S. license plates, and 54 guns at points in the city where the battles broke out before dawn, Perez Aguilar said.
At one point, the alleged traffickers were riding through heavily populated areas of the city, firing at one another and being chased by the military, state and local police.
Drug gangs have staged a series of bloody shootouts and assassinations in Tijuana in recent years as part of running turf battles for control of lucrative trafficking routes.
