Witnesses said the gunmen wore the insignia of the Northeast Cartel, a breakaway from the ultra-violent Zetas, Online Cigarettes Store USA a drug cartel founded by corrupt army commandos in the northern state of Tamaulipas in 2010.
Authorities arrested two of the gunmen, who told investigators the cartel's objective was to "come in Newport Cigarettes Shop and hit Villa Union hard" in order to "intimidate" the state government, according to Governor Miguel Angel Riquelme.
Riquelme praised the "bravery" of the group of 15 police who responded to the initial attack, whom he said managed to contain the gunmen even though they were badly outnumbered.
"Within an hour and a half, we had the criminals surrounded," he told radio network Formula.
"Security forces are deployed on the ground and in the air across the region, to ensure this cowardly Cheap Newport 100s cigarettes attack does not go unpunished," the state's emergency response agency said in a statement.The attack was the latest in a string of security disasters for Lopez Obrador's government since the leftist leader took office a year ago promising a change in strategy against Mexico's powerful drug cartels.
His plan -- summed up in his mantra "hugs not bullets" -- is to attack violent crime at its roots by fighting poverty and inequality with social programs, rather than with the army.
But there are few signs that is working. Mexico appears on track to set a new murder record this year, with 28,741 so far.