Currently a gallery of photos are being circulated about this latest confrontation showing a large number of dead bodies. These are not from the confrontation July 29th but from the ambush July 2nd.

Latest reports are military forces in the area have found three dead and have arrested four so far. Most unofficial reports say there are many more dead.

Updating to corrected death toll.

As many as 21 individuals have been shot to death, six wounded and nine captured following an apparent intergang firefight near the Sonoran town of Saric Thursday night according to several Mexican news accounts.

Unofficial police sources from the nearby towns of Tubutama, Carborca and Saric said that between 300 and 400 heavily armed suspects entered the area seeking to exact revenge for a firefight that took place earlier this month in the same area near Tubutama between a sub gang associated with the Sinaloa Cartel called Command X and Los Zetas who are associated with the Beltran-Leyva Cartel of Baja California.

Sources say Command X attempted to enter the area again Thursday, but a communications center maintained by drug gangs in Saric intercepted communications and enabled a direct confrontation between rival gangs.

The actual site of the battle was an area known as Cara Pinta between seven and eight kilometers north of Saric. The area is a dirt road that wends through mountains towards the Sonoran border city of Nogales. The area is so remote that cell phone do not work and thus news has been slow in getting out.

The latest body count was confirmed at 2330 hrs Friday night by Procuraduría General de Sonora spokesman Jose Larrinaga Talamante.

Residents of Saric reported the gunfire last 20 minutes starting at about 1900 hrs. Local paramedics were refused access to the area by Mexican Federal, military and Sonoran state security elements, who moved to cordon the area in an attempt to prevent the violence from spreading to nearby towns. Residents remained in their homes through the night fearing being hit by stray rounds.

Because of the delay, unofficially the death toll is expected to rise.