Mexican authorities killed a drug cartel leader and 11 other gang suspects in clashes involving ground forces and a military helicopter that fired at the gunmen, officials said Friday. Juan Francisco Patron Sanchez, a regional leader of the Beltran Leyva cartel, was among those killed in the gun battle late Thursday in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, the government said.
The navy said in a statement that the skirmish began when the gunmen used "high-caliber" weapons against federal forces who had been following the suspects in the town of Tepic.
"To reduce the level of aggression and lower the risk of death among civilians and federal forces, (troops) repelled the attack with the support of dissuasive fire from a helicopter," the statement said.
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