Mexico Violence Uproots 4,000, Six Arrested For Carrying Unlicensed Firearms

Six people carrying unlicensed firearms were arrested in Mexico's crime-plagued southern Chiapas state, prosecutors said Sunday, following days of violence that displaced more than 4,000 people.

Mexican media reported over the weekend that several armed men had descended on the Tila municipality, shooting and setting fire to houses and businesses.

The Chiapas prosecutor's office said Saturday that authorities had "rescued 4,187 people" who "were hiding in their homes following acts of violence" and transferred them to shelters.

It said two people were found dead, including a minor, and at least 17 houses and businesses were set ablaze. More than 20 vehicles were also burned or vandalized.

The prosecutor's office confirmed late Sunday that six people carrying unlicensed firearms had been detained in the area.

The Reforma newspaper reported that armed men had gone around shouting that all local youths should report to them "to join criminal gangs".

Violence has escalated in Chiapas due to fighting between the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels -- Mexico's two largest criminal gangs.

The cartels are fighting over drug trafficking routes and control of other criminal enterprises such as extortion, according to the InSight Crime think tank.

Mexico has recorded more than 450,000 murders since 2006, when the government deployed the military to fight drug trafficking, most of them blamed on criminal gangs.

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