Clashes between police, Caracas gang leave 26 dead, Venezuela says

FILE PHOTO: Members of the Special Action Forces board a vehicle that patrols the streets of the COTA 905 neighborhood during armed confrontations with members of the Koki criminal gang in Caracas, Venezuela July 9, 2021. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

CARACAS (Reuters) - Clashes between police and a gang in northwestern Caracas this week have left at least 26 dead, including four officers, and 38 people injured, Venezuelan Interior Minister Carmen Melendez said on Saturday.

The casualty count comes after several days of heavy gunfire left some capital residents fleeing their homes and snarled traffic in several neighborhoods, as authorities in the crime-stricken city push back on what analysts describe as a gang's effort to expand its territory beyond the Cota 905 barrio.