Eight Die in Massive Mexican Shootout

(AFP) - Eight hitmen were killed in a shootout with scores of soldiers in a mountainous area of northern Mexico and gunfights virtually shut down a city on the Texas border, officials said Thursday.

"A group of 100 soldiers and 60 drug traffickers clashed in the Tarahumara mountain range of northern Mexico, in a remote spot some five hours from the town of Madera," Chihuahua state governor Jose Reyes Baeza Terrazas said.

"Eight hitmen died, according to an initial toll."

The army surprised the hitmen, who had terrorized locals, late Wednesday, Baeza said.

Northern areas have seen a surge in drug violence in recent months as gang members fight each other and authorities for control of lucrative trafficking routes into the United States.

Gunmen fought battles on the streets of the northeastern border city of Nuevo Laredo late Wednesday, blocking avenues with stolen cars as officials warned citizens to stay inside through messages on Facebook.

"Remain on alert, some streets are blocked. Be careful when moving around," said the Facebook page of Nuevo Laredo's municipal authorities.

Panicked citizens in the border city across from Laredo, Tex. reported being forced from their cars or trapped inside cinemas or shopping centers as gunfire rang out.

Twelve people died, including two bystanders and a soldier, in daylight shootouts in Nuevo Laredo last Friday.

Authorities blame a spike in violence in northeastern areas on turf battles between the Gulf drug gang and their former allies, the Zetas gang of hitmen.

Around 25,000 people have died in rising drug violence across Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on organized crime three and a half years ago.