MIGUEL ALEMAN, Tamaulipas – Cartel gunmen in Mexico used grenade launchers, improvised explosive devices, and incendiary devices in the latest clashes of a fierce war for control of key drug smuggling territories immediately south of the Texas Border. Despite the out of control violence, residents claim that soldiers from a nearby Mexican Army base largely ignored the gun battles.

Convoys of cartel gunmen in armored SUVs from a faction of Los Zetas called Cartel Del Noreste rolled into Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, over the weekend. The cartel gunmen sought to take control of the region from Mexico’s Gulf Cartel. The Gulf Cartel countered with its own army of gunmen that rolled out through the city streets in an attempt to fight off the CDN gunmen.

According to local residents, each time the two cartels clashed, the fighting went on for hours at a time without military forces from a nearby base arriving to stop the violence.

Both cartel factions used numerous grenades and incendiary devices in order to disable the other sides armored SUVs. The clashes left several burned-out vehicles throughout the city and the surrounding areas. Despite the raging violence, officials only found the body of one gunman left outside of a local funeral home in a pool of blood. The deceased gunman wore military-style clothing and carried several pieces of tactical gear but is not a Mexican military member.

The fighting in Miguel Aleman comes just days after cartel gunmen left an unidentified headless body and a burned-out SUV near that city. The fighting also follows several other fierce clashes in and around the region. In one of those clashes earlier this year, more than 30 cartel gunmen died with most of them incinerated in a two-day span. Last month, CDN gunmen left a chest with two human heads and a banner threatening the Gulf Cartel and Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG). The CDN gunmen leaked the identity of Bartolo “El Primito” Rodarte Castillo, the leader of a Gulf Cartel faction called “Los Metros.” This is the faction currently in control of Miguel Aleman.

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” and “J.L. Perez” from Tamaulipas.