Mexico clashes leave 12 people dead

At least 12 people, including nine civilians and three soldiers, have been killed in recent clashes between vigilante groups and government forces in Mexico’s western Michoacan state, officials say.

The clashes occurred on Monday after the “self-defense” vigilantes ignored a government order to quit their armed struggle against the Knights Templar drug cartel, according to the country’s newspaper Reforma.

Seven civilians were killed in the town of Mugica as well as three soldiers and two civilians in Paracuaro, wrote the daily.

The paper also said that the vigilante groups had taken up positions in communities around the city of Apatzingan, which is considered the stronghold of the drug cartel.

Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said on Tuesday it was too early to confirm a death toll, but said government troops would enter the region to “establish legal order.”

Other reports say soldiers shot dead at least three people from the community, including an 11-year-old girl in the town of Antunez.

On Monday, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong urged vigilantes to lay down their weapons against the drug cartel after emergency talks were held in the Michoacan state capital, Morelia.

Osorio Chong said the vigilante groups should either join the police force or disarm.

The emergency meeting came a day after the seizure of city of Nueva Italia by the self-defense forces from the Knights Templar drug cartel.

However, Eastnislao Beltran, a vigilante leader in Nueva Italia, said members of the self-defense forces were not ready to lay down their weapons.

The growing civilian defense movement began last year in Michoacan in a bid to clear the area of the Knight Templar cartel members.

Towns formed the vigilante groups, arguing that local police were unable to stop the cartel’s murders and kidnappings.