Eight gunmen were killed in a clash with soldiers in northern Mexico Friday and another nine died in violence between rival gangs in southern Mexico on the same day, the military said.
The eight alleged hit men died early Friday morning in a 40-minute shootout with soldiers in Guadalupe and Juarez municipalities in the metropolitan area of Monterrey city, capital of Nuevo Leon state, Xinhua reported.
Sources from the 7th Military zone of the National Defense Ministry said that soldiers patrolling Guadalupe found a convoy of vehicles with armed men aboard.
The soldiers ordered them to stop, but the hit men did not stop and began shooting at the soldiers. They even hurled a cluster grenade at the soldiers.
At the end of the clash the soldiers seized eight weapons including AK-47 and G-3 assault riffles and guns of .50 millimeters caliber, one grenade launcher and some vehicles.
Also early Friday morning, nine people died in clashes between rival gangs in Acapulco port of Guerrero state, southern Mexico, local public security officials said.
On Friday noon, a human head was found by federal police on one avenue in the center of Acapulco.
More than 120 people have died in 2011 across the country in violence related to organized crime, according to local media reports.
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