Mexican police shoot dead two drug cartel leaders

Mexico City: Mexican security forces shot dead two suspected drug cartel leaders in different clashes in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, government officials said.

Tamaulipas' security secretariat wrote on Twitter on Saturday that a presumed leader of the Gulf Cartel, Julian Loisa Salinas, alias "El Comandante Toro", was killed in a shootout in the city of Reynosa, Xinhua news agency reported.

Loisa Salinas had been one of the most sought after drug dealers in Mexico as the government have labelled the Gulf Cartel as one of the main actors of violence in Reynosa, a border city with the US.

According to a state government, accomplices of the drug lord set fire to tyres and vehicles to create a distraction allowing them to flee.

Later, federal forces shot dead Francisco "Pancho" Carreon during a firefight near the capital of Tamaulipas.

Carreon was a senior figure in the cartel of Los Zetas, who was also considered to be a key objective for authorities.

The Twitter account confirmed that their deaths were part of a campaign against organised crime.