Drug gang clash with army kills 21 in Mexico

By Julian Cardona

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican drug gang violence near the U.S. border ended in a shootout with the army on Tuesday and killed 21 people.

At least one soldier died in the clashes in Villa Ahumada, south of the border city of Ciudad Juarez, local newspapers reported, putting the death toll at 21.

The attorney general's office in Chihuahua state said a gunfight between soldiers and suspected drug gangs had left 15 people dead.

The killing spree began in the early hours of Tuesday when around a dozen suspected drug hitmen drove into the farming town of Villa Ahumada in SUVs and dragged nine people, including several police officers, out of their houses, sources close to the attorney general's office told Reuters.

The hitmen shot and killed at least six of those seized before soldiers arrived and opened fire, sparking chases and gun battles in surrounding areas.

Since President Felipe Calderon deployed the army and federal police to tackle drug cartel violence at the end of 2006, the country has seen almost daily drug-related killings in an escalating war between cartels and security forces.

Drug violence killed more than 5,700 people last year, and daylight shootouts are on the rise in northern border cities.

Ciudad Juarez and the surrounding state of Chihuahua have become Mexico's deadliest flashpoints in the drug war, as cartels fight over trafficking routes into Texas and murder police accused of working for rival gangs.

(Additional reporting by Robin Emmott in Monterrey)