Twelve suspected drug-cartel gunmen and two Mexican soldiers have been killed in a gun battle that lasted nearly six hours, the Mexican army said Friday. About 100 soldiers, marines, and police located and surrounded a drug-gang safe house in the Veracruz state capital of Xalapa late Thursday, the army said. The suspects in the house resisted, and other gunmen elsewhere launched what appeared to be diversionary attacks. General Rene Aguilar Paez said gunmen opened fire on houses in surrounding neighborhoods, apparently to try to draw soldiers away from the safe house. Security forces stormed the house after hours of gunfire, and authorities seized grenades, ammunition, and vehicles.
