Violence kills 19 in Mexico
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HERMOSILLO, MEXICO — Police killed 15 gunmen Wednesday in a fierce battle after tracking assailants believed to have abducted and killed four policemen.
About 40 armed assailants, whose tactics and weaponry resembled those of drug gangs, drove into the Mexican town of Cananea, 20 miles south of the Arizona border, and seized four policemen, Sonora state police said in a statement.
The bullet-riddled bodies of the four, along with 50 spent cartridges, were found alongside a road hours later.
The gunmen tried to hole up in mountainous terrain around the town of Arizpe, about 50 miles south of Cananea.
The shootout began after police followed the assailants there, the Sonoran government said.
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