Downfall of Mexican cartel bosses sparks horror 12-hour murder spree on US border

The death of one drug cartel boss and the capture of another sparked a chilling wave of in the border city of Tijuana this week, with eleven homicides reported to have taken place in just 12 hours.

On Wednesday afternoon it was reported that local boss Rodolfo López Arellano, also known as El Cabo 30 or El Solecito, was . López Arellano was said to have been an operative for , one of the Sinaloa Cartel's armed wings, and was shot eight times in the town of San Miguel Topilejo, south of Mexico City.

According to journalist Antonio Nieto, López Arellano was killed at point-blank range on a property where he organised clandestine cockfights. Los Cabos used to be allied with the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) before siding with the Sinaloa Cartel in 2019, local reports suggest.

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And on Thursday federal and state authorities captured local Sinaloa Cartel boss Mario Fabricio 'N', also known as Mario Bros, in the eastern part of Tijuana. reports he was believed to be the leader of the local Sinaloa Cartel faction that is loyal to Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, former right hand man of infamous Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquín '' Guzmán. El Mayo's forces have been locked in a bloody civil war with those loyal to El Chapo's sons, known as Los Chapitos, in recent months.

Zeta Tijuana reports there are at least four different Sinaloa Cartel factions operating in the Tijuana area - which is thought to explain why the capture of one boss and the murder of another elsewhere in Mexico was followed by an eruption of violence in the city.

Officials said at least seven people had been murdered on Thursday as of 10pm local time. However, MILENIO reported there were as many as 11 murders in the space of just 12 hours.

According to El Sol Tijuana, the killings occurred in the neighborhoods of Alemán, Rancho Las Flores Second Section, Internacional, La Esperanza, Guerrero and Las Cumbres. They are all said to have involved firearms. No arrests were reported as of Friday.

The first murders occurred at around 11:31am on Thursday. reports two victims were found shot dead in a vehicle while a third was found strewn across a public road. The local news site also reported that a staggering 372 murders have taken place in Tijuana so far this year alone.

Most of the drug cartel-related violence in Mexico in recent months has been driven by the ongoing war between the Sinaloa Cartel factions loyal to El Mayo and El Chapo's sons. El Mayo was lured to the US and arrested last year with the help of Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of El Chapo's sons, thus sparking the civil war.