17 killed in Mexico violence

Mexico: At least 17 people have been killed in a series of shootouts that started over the weekend in Tampico, a city in Mexican state of Tamaulipas, a joint federal and state agency group said.

The shootouts began around 3.00 p.m. Saturday in the neighbouring city of Madero and spread over to the streets of the port city of Tampico.

"Two unidentified armed civilians killed two men and a woman. Ten minutes later, in the Las Violetas de Tampico section, the dead body of an unidentified man was found with a gunshot wound in the head," the Tamaulipas Coordination Group, a joint federal and state agency, said.

At least 10 people had been killed by Saturday midnight in different neighbourhoods in Tampico, the GCT said.

Three men, all suspected of being members of criminal organisations, were gunned down in the port city Monday, it added.