RIO BRAVO, Tamaulipas – Three Gulf Cartel gunmen died in a shootout with Tamaulipas state authorities in the Mexican border town of Rio Bravo. The community is located just south of Donna, Texas.

The shootout took place on Friday night as a squad of Tamaulipas state authorities were patrolling in Rio Bravo and encountered a group of Gulf Cartel gunmen riding in a Toyota Sequoia. Authorities tried to pull over the vehicle, but the gunmen fled and began exchanging gunfire with police.

The two sides clashed in a short but fierce gun battle that ended when authorities managed to kill three cartel gunmen. Near the vehicle, authorities seized three rifles, a radio, small drug doses, and a hat bearing a Gulf Cartel logo. The logo identified the gunmen as members of the group Alacranes that currently operates in Rio Bravo.

In recent days, the border city of Rio Bravo has seen an escalation of violence as rival factions of the Gulf Cartel continue to fight for control of the region’s numerous drug trafficking corridors that lead to South Texas. Those clashes led citizens to report, once again, the presence of SUVs filled with gunmen roaming the streets of Rio Bravo and Reynosa searching for their rivals. Both cities have also seen numerous murders and kidnappings also tied to that push for control.

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.