8 people killed in Mazatlán, Sinaloa

Authorities reported today eight people killed in the port of Mazatlán in the state of Sinaloa, after an alleged clash between rival drug gangs, one of them a cell of the Beltrán Leyva cartel.

State Attorney General Marco Antonio Higuera Gómez said the violent dispute between the two gangs is linked to the control of drug dealing in the port. 

Higuera also said that the leader of the cell of the Beltrán Leyva cartel managed to escape and was identified as Martín Rivas Torres, also known as “Martín de la Zapata.”

The first attack was reported in the Francisco Villa neighborhood in an area known as "picaderos" (crack houses), where armed men aboard trucks opened fire on four men.

Minutes later, an armed convoy fired at two people in the Lico Velarde neighborhood.

An hour after the first attack, men aboard a van executed two men in the Valles del Ejido neighborhood.