Monterrey – A shootout in the northern city of Monterrey killed two suspected drug cartel gunmen and wounded a soldier Friday.

Suspected gang members also blocked roads in the city for the second day, in a bold attempt to impede security patrols.

Gunmen opened fire on an army patrol outside the gates of a prestigious private university in Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city and a major industrial hub, the army said in a statement.

Soldiers seized guns, ammunition and hand grenades at the scene.

The wounded soldier is in stable condition.

Gang members blocked more than 30 roads in the Monterrey metropolitan area over 24 hours, including several leading out of the city, said Nuevo Leon Public Safety Secretary Luis Carlos Trevino. He said the blockades were intended to keep the military from carrying out operations.

Most suspects fled after parking the trucks and other vehicles across the roads, but at least two were arrested, he said. Authorities towed the cars away, the official said.

The street blockades, a novel tactic, drive home how imbued Mexico's drug war has become in the daily life of some cities — and how audacious cartels have become in their battle against the military and federal police.

Two of the vehicles blocking the roads Thursday were set on fire a few hundred yards (meters) from toll booths.

The federal government called the blockades a reaction to the recent capture of several alleged gang leaders in the Monterrey area.

Those include Alberto "Bad Boy" Mendoza, suspected of being a chief cartel operator linked to the Beltran Leyva gang and others in Monterrey. The navy announced his capture Friday.

"Today's events in Nuevo Leon are, without a doubt, a desperate reaction by criminal gangs to the federal government's ... advances on security matters," the Interior Department said in a statement.

Friday's violence and blockades came a day after gunmen in a convoy of six vehicles opened fire on a navy helicopter on a reconnaissance patrol in Fresnillo, outside of Monterrey. Marines aboard the chopper returned fire, killing one of the gunmen.