Veracruz: Mexican police shot and killed six people on Thursday during a raid in a state wracked by drug cartel violence, an official said.
Another seven people were arrested and two kidnapped people were freed in the operation in Veracruz.
The clash happened in the town of Poza Rica as authorities probed complaints of a kidnapping in a home, an official with the state government said on condition of anonymity.
When police arrived they were met with gunfire, the official said.
Police found weapons, torture devices, grenades and other material that led them to think the people killed belong to the ultra-violent Zetas drug cartel. It has a major presence in the state.
Veracruz is one of the Mexican states most torn by violence among drug cartels.
They fight over street peddling of cocaine and other drugs, side businesses like robbing fuel from the state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos and extorting money from migrants trying to head north to the United States.
