Nephew of drug lord "El Mayo" Zambada killed in northwest Mexico

Culiacan, Mexico, Aug 27 (EFE).- A pair of gunmen shot and killed the nephew of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a long-time associate of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman, a Mexican police official confirmed to EFE.

The police spokesman, who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons, said El Mayo's nephew, Geovanny Parra Zambada, and another man identified as Juan "N" were slain in the attack in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.

Authorities still have not identified the suspects in Friday afternoon's double homicide.

The victims were riding in Culiacan, the state capital, in a late-model Acura with a Jalisco state license plate when another vehicle cut them off, according to investigators.

The front section of the Acura was damaged, leading investigators to presume the assailants crashed into Parra Zambada's vehicle prior to firing at the men with high-caliber rifles as they tried to flee.

Armed assailants shot and killed another of El Mayo's nephews, Vicente Zambada Reyes, on Dec. 10, 2015.

The Sinaloa cartel suffered a crushing blow when "El Chapo" Guzman was recaptured in January, six months after he escaped a maximum-security prison via a tunnel dug to his cell.

On July 15, one of Guzman's sons, Jesus Alfredo Guzman, was kidnapped along with five others from a swank restaurant in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco state. He was subsequently released last weekend, a relative of one of abducted individuals told EFE.

The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, a violent offshoot of the Sinaloa cartel that emerged in 2010 and now controls Jalisco, was behind the kidnapping, authorities say.