Gunbattle near Mexico border kills at least three

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico -- Police and soldiers returned fire against suspected drug traffickers in this border city early Friday, killing three suspects and wounding six others, the state attorney general said.

The deaths occurred when a fleeing vehicle exploded in flames during the shootout, Tamaulipas Attorney General Francisco Cayuela Villarreal said.

Authorities initially said a bazooka was used by soldiers to stop the vehicle but later said the gas tank exploded during the fighting.

Six other people suspected of being drug traffickers were hospitalized, Cayuela said.

The bodies of two other men who had been handcuffed and executed were found south of the city later in the morning, but it was not immediately clear if that was related to the shootout.

The incident began at about 2 a.m. when Nuevo Laredo city police began chasing a convoy of armed men, who began shooting at them. Officials said the police called for backup and state and federal police and soldiers rushed to the scene.

The federal Justice Department reported that seven people had been arrested and that six of them were "presumed drug traffickers."

Cayuela said the convoy appeared to be linked to an attempt by the Pacific Coast drug gang led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to move into drug territory controlled by Osiel Cardenas, who was arrested in March.

Nuevo Laredo, just south of Laredo, Texas, has seen more than 40 murders so far this year, most of them attributed by authorities to drug trafficking disputes.

The shootout came less than a day after U.S. and Mexican officials announced that they had arrested more than 240 people in a 19-month "Operation Trifecta" aimed at another drug cartel.