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13 police officers killed in ambush by gunmen from drug cartel

The officers were shot at by gunmen armed with sniper rifles and AR-15 and AK-47 assault weapons.

The burnt wreckage of a police patrol car after an ambush by suspected cartel on police officers in El Aguaje, in Michoacan state, Mexico
Image: The burnt wreckage of a police patrol car after the deadly ambush
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At least 13 police officers have been killed after they were ambushed by gunmen in armoured vehicles in Mexico.

Another nine were wounded in the attack by suspected members of a drug cartel who fired on the officers using sniper rifles and AR-15 and AK-47 assault weapons.

The attack took place in El Aguaje, a town in the Aguililla region of Michoacan state, where violence attributed to drug cartels has spiked in recent months.

Governor Silvano Aureoles said: "No attack on the police will go unpunished, and this was a cowardly, devious attack because they laid an ambush in this area of the road."

Federal and state security forces have set up roadblocks in western Mexico's so-called "hot lands" as they hunt for the killers.

Images published in Mexican media showed vehicles burning in the middle of a road and messages apparently signed by Jalisco New Generation, one of Mexico's most powerful and rising cartels.

The latest violence in Michoacan, an important avocado-growing state, has brought back memories of the bloodiest days of Mexico's war on drug cartels between 2006 and 2012.

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In August, police found 19 bodies in the town of Uruapan, including nine hung from a bridge.

On the same day, about 45 miles north of Aguililla, there were fierce clashes between members of Jalisco New Generation and regional self-defence groups.

For decades, Michoacan has been known for marijuana plantations and the making of methamphetamine.

The local port of Lázaro Cárdenas is a key entry point for chemicals used to make synthetic drugs.