Pubdate: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX) Copyright: 2006 San Antonio Express-News Contact: http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384 DOPE WAR LEAVES MORE VICTIMS DEAD IN THE STREETS OF MONTERREY MONTERREY, Mexico -- Rival drug cartels continued their bloody turf war in the streets of this city early Thursday with a high-caliber shootout that killed five people, including a woman riding a bus home from work. The four male victims of the shootout included a former police commander and the head of a cell of the sanguinary Sinaloa drug cartel, according to media reports. Nuevo Leon Gov. Natividad Gonzalez Paras said the shootout was between drug cartels vying for control of Monterrey and surrounding environs. "The episode ... is a sign that (we're) dealing with a war between trans-state organizations that are fighting to take control," of the region, said Gonzalez, pointing to a turf war between the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels that has unleashed a wave of violence in northern Mexico the past two years. Newspaper El Norte identified the target of the attack as Miguel Angel Alanis Caballero, known as "La Chiva," or "the Goat." Alanis died in the attack along with Gustavo de Leon Perez, a former judicial police officer, according to the newspaper. The gunbattle occurred outside a mall in the Monterrey suburb of Guadalupe around midnight Wednesday. About half a dozen late model SUVs and luxury cars were shot up in the exchange, and were believed to have belonged to the gunmen. A bus also was hit by gunfire, killing a woman, who was an innocent bystander. The killings bring to about 56 the number of deaths related to organized crime in the state of Nuevo Leon in 2006, according to media tallies. About 10 of the victims were active law enforcement members, including a federal prosecutor earlier this week. The tally is a record and authorities in the formerly peaceful city have appeared powerless to stop the violence. Most of the killings have been unresolved, though the state's attorney general twice in November promised to announce advances in investigations. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath