13 police killed by gunmen in Mexican state of Michoacan

At least 13 police officers were killed and three others injured Monday in an attack by gunmen in the western state of Michoacan, a region where violence attributed to organized crime groups has risen in recent months.

The state police officers had gone to a home in the town of El Aguaje in Aguililla municipality to enforce a judicial order when “several armed civilians fired on them,” Michoacan’s state security department said in a statement.

After the attack, the area located in western Mexico’s so-called “hot lands” was reinforced by federal and state security forces, who installed checkpoints and control posts to find the assailants.

Michoacan, an important avocado growing state, is home to organized crime groups and recently has seen a spike in violence that has brought back memories of the bloodiest days of Mexico’s war on drug cartels between 2006 and 2012.

In August, police found 19 bodies in the town of Uruapan, including nine hung from a bridge along with a sign with threats written on it. Later, the Aguililla area was the scene of fierce clashes between members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and regional self-defense groups.