SAN FERNANDO, Tamaulipas – Six cartel gunmen died during a clash with Mexican state police officers in the border state of Tamaulipas. The shootout is part of a new uptick in violence that is spreading around the eastern part of Tamaulipas.

The shootout took place last week along a series of dirt roads that lead to the rural community of Francisco Gonzalez Villarreal in the municipality of San Fernando. A group of gunmen in an SUV began shooting in an ambush-style attack at a convoy of Tamaulipas State Police officers were patrolling the area. The police officers fought off the attack and then chased the gunmen as they tried to flee.

The gunmen were not members of the Gulf Cartel who usually operate in that region. Instead, they were part of an allied group, Z Vieja Escuela. The chase went on for several miles along multiple dirt roads until the driver of the SUV lost control of the vehicle causing it to rollover.

After the crash, authorities found the bodies of the six men in a field not far from the SUV, it appears that the cartel gunmen were ejected during the crash. Inside the vehicle, authorities found numerous rifles and other weapons.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “J.A. Espinoza” from Tamaulipas.