A clash between Federal Police and suspected cartel members in Guanajuato yesterday left 10 people dead and five others injured, authorities reported.

The nearly two-hour-long confrontation took place in Jerécuaro, a municipality in the south of the state that borders both Michoacán and Querétaro.

The state government said the dead are believed to be members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), considered Mexico’s most powerful and dangerous criminal organization.

A Federal Police officer and a paramedic are among the five people who were wounded.

According to information from the state’s security cabinet, personnel of an elite division of the Federal Police were conducting a patrol in several vehicles in the community of Purísima del Zapote when they were shot at by armed men in a pickup truck.

The police pursued the vehicle for several kilometers before arriving at a point where, according to authorities, around 40 armed men wearing vests and other clothing emblazoned with the CJNG initials were waiting inside several vehicles.

The suspected cartel members shot at police who deployed a strategy that forced them to retreat towards a ravine as the gunfire continued.

At the same time, military police were involved in another confrontation, the newspaper El Universal reported.

Another group of Federal Police officers was later attacked, reportedly in retaliation for the previous clashes, as was a state police unit.

The unidentified suspects then set a pickup truck and a trailer on fire on the highway to Querétaro, reportedly to hinder the pursuit of fleeing cartel members.

Federal Police commissioner Manelich Castilla Craviotto later attended the scene of the confrontation along with other officers.

Police seized seven pickup trucks, of which four had been reported stolen, as well as seven firearms, improvised explosive devices and a makeshift grenade launcher.

Guanajuato was the most violent state in Mexico in the first eight months of 2018, according to sheer homicide numbers, with 1,671 victims. A large percentage of the deaths are believed to be linked to the crime of petroleum theft.

The CJNG is involved in a turf war in the state with the crime gang known as Santa Rosa de Lima over the illicit fuel trade and to control extortion and kidnapping rackets, El Universal said.

Source: El Universal (sp)