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Dozens dead in more suspected gang violence against Mexico police

More than 80,000 people have been killed and 22,000 have gone missing since the Mexican government started aggressively fighting drug cartels in 2006.

By Doug G. Ware

TANHUATO, Mexico, May 22 (UPI) -- Dozens of suspected criminals were killed early Friday in what authorities say was a drug cartel-related shootout between a gang and police forces in one of Mexico's most violent states.

The gunfire erupted in the town of Tanhuato in the Michoacan state, near the Jalisco border, officials said. An armed gang there started shooting with federal police as they rode in a convoy.

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BBC News reported that 39 had died, while a Financial Times report said more than 40 cartel members were killed.

The police were fired upon when they arrived Friday morning in Tanhuato, and before long bullets were flying, investigators say. Multiple police officers were among the dead.

The Financial Times report added that a rocket launcher, 50 assault rifles and a sniper rifle were seized after the fight. "This is a big blow to the Jalisco cartel," a government official said.

The region has been marred by violence in recent years, police say, as the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel has sought to expand its presence there.

Investigators did not immediately say whether the cartel was behind Friday's attack.

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In 2013, vigilante groups organized in Michoacan to drive out the Knights Templar drugs cartel. But last week a former vigilante leader running for mayor in next month's elections was shot dead, BBC News reported.

Gangs in Michoacan and Jalisco, two of Mexico's most violent states, have killed nearly two dozen police officers since March -- including several in an April ambush. A police helicopter was also shot down by the cartel earlier this month, which killed at least seven Mexican soldiers and a female police officer.

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Mexican police have spent large amounts of time and resources hunting the cartel's leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as "El Mencho."

Friday's shootout marks the latest violence that has gripped the country as it approaches midterm elections on June 7. The mayoral candidate who was shot dead, Enrique Hernandez, was one of four candidates on the ballot for that post.

Violence has also erupted in numerous other Mexican states, such as Guerrero, where rival gang fighting laid waste to the town of Chilapa for almost a solid week. Officials there say at least 13 people have been reported missing and as many as 30 might have been abducted by the cartel.

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Thursday, authorities found three dismembered bodies that had been dumped in a graveyard near Chilapa. However, police don't believe any of the mutilated bodies belong to any of those reported missing.

For nearly the last decade, the Mexican government has undertaken great effort to combat the surge of cartel-related violence, but it has yet to find an effective strategy.

More than 80,000 people have been killed and about 22,000 have gone missing since the Mexican government began the effort to fight cartels, the Yucatan Times reported.

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