Mexican newspaper offices hit by gunfire in Sinaloa state's capital

abcnews.go.com:

Assailants have fired a dozen gunshots at a building housing the newspaper El Debate in the embattled northern state of Sinaloa

MEXICO CITY — Assailants fired a dozen gunshots at a building housing the newspaper El Debate in the embattled northern Mexico state of Sinaloa, the media outlet said Friday.

The newspaper is based in the state capital, Culiacan, where rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have been staging bloody battles.

The newspaper said it found at least four bullet impacts on the building’s walls, and more gunfire hit newspaper vehicles parked in front of the offices late Thursday. The paper said that no one was injured.

The Mexican Media Alliance, a press freedom group, called it “a direct attack against press freedom and right of the public to be informed.”

El Debate said that the assailants arrived in two vehicles and stopped briefly in front of the building. One gunman got out and opened fire with a rifle, before they sped off.

Threats against journalists and their sources have increased exponentially since the latest round of factional fighting broke out after two Sinaloa drug capos — one from each faction — flew to the United States and were arrested there.

Drug lords Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López were apprehended in the United States after flying there in a small plane on July 25.

Zambada later claimed he was kidnapped and forced aboard the plane by Guzmán López, causing a violent battle between Zambada’s faction and the “Chapitos” group led by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Journalists have reported being stopped by gunmen on roadways outside Culiacan and told they couldn't cover the continuing gunbattles occurring on the outskirts of the city on