10 killed as vigilantes clash in Mexico

Rival factions of a self-defense militia clashed in southern Mexico, leaving at least 10 people dead amid tensions in the region on the eve of midterm elections.

An AFP journalist saw one body at the scene of the shootout -- the group’s headquarters in the village of <g data-gr-id="21">Xolapa</g>, Guerrero state -- and another seven lying in <g data-gr-id="26">wake</g> at the homes of relatives. Ramon Navarrete, president of the Guerrero state Human Rights Commission, said his agency had seen 10 bodies and that it was verifying reports of three more dead.

“We’re waiting to get a count of all the dead,” Navarrete told reporters. 

A state government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the death toll could rise to 16 in <g data-gr-id="23">Xolapa</g>, a village of some 500 people north of the Pacific resort of Acapulco. The <g data-gr-id="24">clash</g> did not appear linked to Sunday’s congressional, gubernatorial and municipal elections.

The state government said in a statement that the shootout involved rival factions of the United Front for Security and Development in Guerrero State (FUSDEG).

The prosecutor’s office is investigating how many people were killed or wounded, the statement said, adding that the group “presumably has a dispute over territory in the Acapulco-Chilpancingo 

corridor.”