Sunday shootout in Juarez leaves three cartel gunmen dead

A predawn, hourlong gun battle -- the latest volley in an escalating series of attacks on Mexican federal police by drug cartel hitmen -- left three cartel gunmen dead Sunday in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a federal police spokesman told CNN. Local reports said some of the suspected traffickers were carrying grenades. The gunfire could be heard by residents across the border in El Paso, Texas, local observers said. "We believe these attacks are in direct response to recent seizures by the federal police force," federal police spokesman Ramon Salinas told CNN. The gun battle Sunday pitted Ciudad Juarez municipal police and the federal police against drug cartel gunmen who attacked the officers, Salinas said. There was no information on whether any civilians were injured in the gun battle, but Salinas said the three dead gunmen, who authorities linked to a cartel, were the only fatalities. There had been relative calm in the city since elections were held in Juarez on July 4. But Sunday's attack against Mexican federal police marks the third major incident of its kind in recent weeks...more