Mexican police and marines have killed 14 presumed criminal gang members in a shootout in the troubled Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
The state joint security agency says in a statement that a patrol came under fire Monday afternoon on a road in the town of Jesús Carranza, near the border of Oaxaca state.
The patrol called for backup, and 14 suspects died in the firefight. Agents seized 13 assault rifles and a weapon capable of piercing armored vehicles.
Veracruz is a strategic smuggling corridor and has been a hotspot of Mexico's drug cartel violence in recent years.
Another shootout in Jesús Carranza left three attackers dead last Saturday.
