REYNOSA, Tamaulipas – At least five men were killed locally in recent days as rival factions of the Gulf Cartel fight for control of lucrative drug and human smuggling territories.

This week, authorities were called to the Valle Soleado neighborhood in response to two bodies left on the streets. Both victims appeared tortured prior to their deaths. Investigators found trash bags on the victims’ heads, indicating they were suffocated to some extent. At the scene, cartel gunmen left a poster board claiming the victims were lookouts for the “Los Metros” faction of the Gulf Cartel.

“This is what will happen to those who leak information to the Metros and the Ceros, Atte Grupo Escorpion,” the gunmen wrote in the poster board. The message was signed on behalf of “Negrito” and “Parrana,” two leaders with another faction of the Gulf Cartel.

Soon after the discovery, cartel gunmen and Tamaulipas state police clashed along the highway that connects Reynosa and Monterrey known as “Libramiento.” That shootout ended in the parking lot of a Church’s Chicken when gunmen in a maroon Buick SUV tried to run inside the restaurant. Two died inside the vehicle while a third died outside.

Two rival factions of the Gulf Cartel are fighting for control of Reynosa. One, the Escorpiones, is based in Matamoros while the “Metros” reside in Reynosa. The fighting has led to hundreds of murders and shootouts.

In recent weeks, both factions clashed along the Libramiento, turning the popular road into a common battleground. Most recently, one cartel gunman died inside his vehicle while a regional commander named Ramiro Banda managed to escape. Banda died hours later at a local hospital from injuries he sustained during the clash.

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 “A.C. Del Angel” from Tamaulipas