Ten people died and two more were wounded in a gunfight yesterday between a community police force and a self-defense group in Chilapa, Guerrero.

Paraíso Tepila community police, affiliated with the regional community organization CRAC, clashed with a self-defense group believed to be connected with the Ardillos crime gang.

The confrontation took place when the self-defense group attempted to enter the town.

CRAC spokesman Jesús Plácido Galindo reported that the showdown lasted about three hours.

The state government said when the army and state police arrived at the scene they found a truck with the 10 bodies in it, along with two people with bullet wounds.

Yesterday’s is the latest and most intense confrontation between both groups in recent weeks.

On December 19, CRAC members reported that the self-defense group had blocked the roads connecting the towns of Rincón de Chautla, Zacapexco, San Jerónimo Palantla and Tepila.

After local residents requested the intervention of the state government, army and state police traveled to the area a week later, only to be repelled by the self-defense group.

After yesterday’s clash, Plácido said the latter has the four towns in a virtual state of siege. He also said that members of a family from Tepila, including three young girls, were kidnapped yesterday. Their whereabouts are unknown.

The spokesman said the kidnapping followed a plea for the intervention of federal authorities. “. . . these are the consequences.”