(CNN) -- A five-hour shootout between Mexican navy fighters and alleged members of the "Zetas" cartel left 15 people dead and several wounded, the official Notimex news agency reported Friday.
The clashes in the small town of San Jose de Lourdes, Zacatecas, led to the arrest of 17 people, Notimex reported.
Alleged members of the Zetas cartel sprayed bullets from a safe house, wounding six navy fighters, Notimex reported.
The Los Zetas cartel is behind a string of massacres in Tamaulipas and as far as Guatemala, according to law enforcement officials in Mexico and the United States,
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Mexican officials arrested alleged Zetas member Abraham Barrios Caporal, also known as "Erasmo," during an army operation in the eastern state of Veracruz on Thursday.
Barrios admitted to his involvement in the killing and burial of 193 people in the town of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, last April, officials said.
Los Zetas cartel was founded by Mexican army deserters, according to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
It's an "extremely brutal" cartel involved in kidnappings, torture and beheadings, according to the DEA.
