A shootout between soldiers and suspected drug dealers in northeast Mexico last week left 25 of the suspects dead. The incident began when anti-drug forces flying over Ciudad Mier, south of the Rio Grande, observed armed people in front of a building, the military said. Soldiers were dispatched on the ground. When they approached the building, they were greeted with gunfire and responded with their own, the military said. The soldiers also freed three people whom the suspects were holding, the military said.