MEXICO CITY, Sept 2 (Reuters) - As many as 25 people were killed when Mexican soldiers clashed on Thursday with suspected drug gang members in rural northeastern Mexico, local media reported on Thursday.
A spokesman for the Mexican army confirmed the incident but did not have details on the number of victims.
The fighting began when an army patrol was fired upon after nearing a camp of armed men in the state of Nuevo Leon, where business hub Monterrey is located, near the border with neighboring Tamaulipas.
Tamaulipas state has become one of Mexico's bloodiest drug flashpoints since the start of the year as rival hitmen from the Gulf cartel and its former armed wing, the Zetas, fight over smuggling routes into the United States.
Mexican marines found the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants gunned down by suspected drug cartel hitmen last week in Tamaulipas in one of the worst mass killings in recent Mexican history.
More than 28,000 people have died in drug violence since President Felipe Calderon launched his war on drugs after taking office in late 2006.
The spiraling violence has prompted criticism of his policy in recent weeks, but the government scored a significant victory earlier this week when it captured drug lord Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez in a residential area outside of Mexico City.
(Reporting by Robert Campbell; editing by Missy Ryan, Editing by Sandra Maler)
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