MEXICO CITY: Security forces killed 19 people described as suspected drug criminals in three separate clashes in Mexico’s troubled Tamaulipas state, one of the regions hardest hit by violence, officials said on Wednesday.

They said the suspects were killed during skirmishes with police and military forces near the northeastern towns of Matamoros and Rio Bravo near Mexico’s border with the United States.

The clashes occurred around the same time late on Tuesday, when police and military forces came under attack from the alleged criminals, authorities said.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014