Nineteen suspected gang members and 10 military personnel were killed in a wave of violence surrounding the arrest of suspected Mexican drug cartel boss Ovidio Guzman in the northern state of Sinaloa, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval says.
Mexican security forces captured Mr Guzman, the 32-year-old son of jailed kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in the early hours of Thursday morning, prompting hours of unrest and shootouts with gang members, the minister said.
The arrest spurred the powerful Sinaloa Cartel — once headed by El Chapo himself — to go on a rampage, setting vehicles on fire, blocking roads, and fighting security forces in and around Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa.
In a blow-by-blow description, Mr Sandoval said cartel gunmen opened fire on troops with .50-caliber machine guns.
The army responded by calling in Blackhawk helicopter gunships to attack a convoy of 25 cartel vehicles, including truck-mounted cartel gun platforms.
The cartel then opened fire on the military aircraft, forcing two of them down with "a significant number of impacts" in each of the two aircraft, Mr Sandoval said.
The gang then sent hordes of gunmen to attack fixed-wing aircraft, both military and civilian, at the city's international airport.
One civilian airliner was hit. The gunmen also shot up airport buildings in a bid to prevent authorities from flying the captured cartel boss out of the city.
But, Mr Sandoval said, authorities anticipating the resistance had loaded Ovidio Guzman onto a military helicopter to fly him back to Mexico City. He was then taken to a maximum security federal prison.
Twenty-one other people were arrested during Thursday's operations, and 17 police officers and 35 military personnel were wounded, Mr Sandoval told a news conference.
'We all threw ourselves to the floor'
Passengers on an Aeromexico passenger flight at Culiacan airport crouched low below their seats as shots rang out around the runway on Thursday.
"As we were accelerating for take-off, we heard gunshots very close to the plane, and that's when we all threw ourselves to the floor," passenger David Tellez said.
Video shot by Mr Tellez showed passengers kneeling between the seats. Video also shows Mexican Air Force aircraft taxiing on the airport's runway.
On Twitter, Mr Tellez said a flight attendant told passengers the plane had been shot at.
Aeromexico said the fuselage of the plane was hit by gunfire. No passengers or crew members were harmed.
The airport was due to reopen later on Friday after being closed due to the violence.
Guzman capture precedes North American summit
The United States had offered a $US5 million ($7.4 million) reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Ovidio Guzmán.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said there were no immediate plans to extradite him to the United States, where his father is in a maximum security prison after being extradited in 2017 and found guilty in a New York court.
"The elements (of the case) have to be presented and the judges in Mexico decide," the president said, adding that no US forces had assisted in the arrest.
"It is a process … It is not just the request."
An enhanced security presence will now remain in place in Sinaloa, on Mexico's Pacific coast, to protect the public, with an additional 1,000 military personnel travelling to the region today, Mr Sandoval said.
The arrest of Mr Guzman was timely for Mr Lopez Obrador as he prepares to host a major North American summit, which US President Joe Biden will attend.
The president had ordered Mr Guzman to be freed to avoid mass bloodshed after he was captured previously in the state of Sinaloa in 2019, sparking a violent stand-off with cartel gunmen.
His release angered the armed forces and caused consternation inside the government and the United States, according to US and Mexican officials, feeding criticism of Mr Lopez Obrador's strategy of avoiding direct clashes with gangs.
Mr Lopez Obrador took office in 2018 vowing to get a grip on gang violence. Instead, the number of homicides rose on his watch, and is now on the verge of surpassing the total recorded in the entire preceding six-year administration.
ABC/wires
