According to local media, the drug cartel “Familia Michoacana” arrived in the village seeking extortion payments.
At least 11 people have been killed in violent clashes between suspected gang members and residents of a small rural town in central Mexico, authorities said.
Mexico’s state security ministry said in a statement Friday that eight of those killed in the clashes in Texcaltitlan, a town about 65 kilometers from the state capital, were suspected of involvement in criminal activities and three were members of the community. Announced. .
State police have not identified the suspected gang involved in the crash, but said they are working with the National Guard and other authorities to uncover details of the incident.
According to local media, armed men from the Familia Michoacana drug cartel, which is said to have massacred 20 people in neighboring Guerrero state last year, arrived in the village and demanded extortion payments from local farmers.
Mexican drug cartels are known to use violence and intimidation to extort money from businesses, and the Familia Michoacana drug cartel has been active in the region for years.
Footage posted on social media shows a brawl breaking out between dozens of men, with villagers wearing cowboy hats and hunting rifles chasing suspected gang members as gunfire flies. It was shown that there was. Other footage showed charred bodies and vehicles ablaze.
Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the footage.
