A passenger aircraft in Culiacán, Mexico took on gunfire moments earlier than takeoff on Thursday as Mexican army captured the son of the infamous former chief of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. The former cartel boss’s son, Ovidio Guzmán, was not aboard the Aeromexico flight caught within the crossfire, however the aircraft in query was taxiing for takeoff when army planes touchdown on the airstrip close by drew hearth from the cartel, based on Reuters.
Passengers aboard the aircraft threw themselves onto the ground to keep away from being shot because the aircraft deserted the runway and returned to the gate, the place crew scrambled to get the passengers to security. A flight attendant stated the engine had been shot, triggering a leak and compounding the hazard — as if being caught within the shootout wasn’t sufficient. No passengers had been harmed as they disembarked, however it was a chaotic scene nonetheless:
All industrial flights out and in of the Culiacán airport had been suspended as airline crews led vacationers to windowless ready rooms, away from the tarmac the place army craft had been taking heavy hearth from a convoy of cartel automobiles.
There had been 25 automobiles within the convoy, some with truck-mounted .50-caliber machine weapons based on the Associated Press. The military despatched Blackhawk helicopters to cease the cartel automobiles, however two gunships had been shot down after taking over “a significant number of impacts.”
The cartel opened hearth on the airstrip the place the Mexican Air Force landed giant transports not solely to kill Mexican troops, however to attempt to cease any planes from leaving: cartel members incorrectly assumed Guzmán could be taken out of the town by aircraft, so that they attacked three of the town’s airports, per the AP:
The gang then despatched hordes of gunmen to assault fixed-wing plane, each army and civilian, on the metropolis’s worldwide airport.
One civilian airliner was hit. The gunmen additionally shot up airport buildings in a bid to forestall authorities from flying the captured cartel boss out of the town. But, Sandoval stated, authorities anticipating the resistance had loaded Ovidio Guzmán onto a army helicopter to fly him again to Mexico City.
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The army thwarted their plans, however extra violence broke out again on the bottom because the cartel faction led by “El Chapo’s” remaining sons — often called “Los Chapitos” — retaliated by taking pictures at civilians and army forces alike.
Streets had been closed down as industrial vans burned amid the shootouts. And cartel members even tried to kidnap medical doctors from hospitals to deal with their wounded. So far, there are a minimum of 29 reported deaths, with 19 cartel members killed and 10 Mexican troopers.
The federal authorities instructed Culiacán’s residents to take shelter at residence, however the metropolis is reeling from the assault. Ovidio Guzmán’s extradition to the U.S. is pending, however nonetheless in query; if extradited, he’ll be despatched to a most safety jail — removed from any retaliatory assaults or additional makes an attempt to interrupt him out.
Source: jalopnik.com