Mexico gives account of violence after ‘Chapo’ son arrested

An army convoy patrols the streets of Culiacan (Martin Urista/AP)

The operation to detain Ovidio Guzman, the son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, unleashed a running firefight in the northern city of Culiacan that killed 10 military personnel and 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Defence Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval described a battle that resembled a war: cartel gunmen opened fire on troops with machine guns, and the army responded by calling in Blackhawk helicopter gunships to attack a convoy of 25 cartel vehicles, including truck-mounted cartel gun platforms.