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19 killed in Mexico at clandestine rooster fight

A group of law enforcment officers stand next to a truck
Army officers and officials inspect a cockfighting site Monday near the Mexican town of Zinapecuaro, Michoacan, where 19 people were shot dead late Sunday.
(Armando Solis / Associated Press)
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Nineteen people were killed when gunmen burst into a clandestine rooster fight in western Mexico, prosecutors in the western state of Michoacan said Monday.

The attack occurred late Sunday near the town of Zinapecuaro, Michoacan.

The dead include 16 men and three women, and a number of people were wounded in the attack.

Scuffles have broken out in the Mexican city of Tapachula between authorities and some of the tens of thousands of migrants who have been stranded there.

The office said that drug cartels and gangs had been fighting in the area.

Michoacan has been the scene of a longstanding turf battle between local cartels and the Jalisco cartel, from the neighboring state of Jalisco. The fighting has included the use of bomb-dropping drones, landmines and home-made armored cars.

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Cockfighting, while illegal in many areas, remains a popular pastime in parts of Mexico, though the fights between roosters are usually held clandestinely.

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