MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – At least 25 suspected drug  gang members were killed in an army raid in rural northeastern  Mexico yesterday, the army said in a press release.

Soldiers were sent to the location after an airborne patrol  sighted armed men outside a building. Fighting began when the  men opened fire on the troops.

Three people who presumably had been kidnapped by the gang  were freed following the fighting. Two soldiers were wounded.

Troops seized 23 vehicles, including two painted in army  colors, two dozen guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

The clash was originally reported to have taken place in  the state of Nuevo Leon, where business hub Monterrey is  located, but actually took place across the border in  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.