Three gunmen from Los Zetas cartel died while clashing with Mexican military and state police forces in Nuevo Laredo. The organization continues to terrorize the region in convoys of armored trucks with mounted machine guns and .50 caliber rifles.

In one of the clashes, gunmen with the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) faction of Los Zetas traveled in vehicles with signs identifying them as “Hell’s Troops” near the Hidalgo neighborhood when state police spotted and tried to arrest them, information provided to Breitbart Texas by Mexican law enforcement sources revealed. The gunmen began firing and tried to flee the area.

That shootout ended shortly after two trucks used by gunmen crashed into each other and another vehicle. The gunmen managed to escape on foot. Authorities seized the two vehicles, several weapons, and road spikes.

The second shootout took place shortly another convoy of CDN gunmen tried to ambush a convoy of Mexican soldiers and Tamaulipas state police. The attack killed three gunmen. Authorities also arrested two other Los Zetas members.

The shootouts in Nuevo Laredo come at a time when a local “human rights” commission is claiming that several dead cartel gunmen were actually innocent civilians kidnapped from their homes for staging in police photos, Breitbart Texas reported. The head of the group, Reymundo Ramos Vasquez, was previously identified by Los Zetas members as an ally.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.

Tony Aranda from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.