#18 killed in bloody shootout between Mexican drug cartels

Eighteen people were killed during a bloody shootout between suspected Mexican drug cartels on Friday.

The gunfight happened in the city of Valparaiso in a remote area of Zacatecas state, just north of Mexico City, according to several reports, citing Rocio Aguilar, a spokeswoman for the state government.

She told local media that the battle is part of an ongoing turf war between rival gangs as they fight for control of drug trafficking route.

The Friday shootout was the most recent in a surge of grisly violence that included the death of two police officers found hanging from a bridge in Zacatecas.

Local media have reported a series of shootouts since Wednesday, when the bodies of two police officers were found hanging from a bridge in Zacatecas.

“The state has the obligation to guarantee peace and tranquility, the security of all citizens,” Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during his Friday press conference, adding that his administration was making progress in the fight against crime.

Mexican drug cartels have fueled a “tidal wave” of dangerous drugs flooding the United States, the Drug Enforcement Administration told The Post recently, as they have “strategically expanded” their line of synthetic meth and fentanyl arriving into Northeastern states such as New York.