Moreila (Mexico), Oct 29 (IANS/EFE) Five suspected members of a drug cartel were gunned down over the weekend by vigilantes in the Mexican state of Michoacan, prosecutors said.
The Los Caballeros Templarios cartel gunmen were killed in a shootout around Sunday noon with armed civilians in Aguililla city.
Aguililla is near Apatzingan, the main area of operations of the Caballeros Templarios.
The shootout occurred hours after suspected drug traffickers opened fire and threw homemade bombs at 18 electric substations and five service stations in Michoacan.
The attacks were apparently staged by gunmen on the payroll of the Caballeros Templarios, a gang that broke off from the Familia Michoacana criminal organisation in December 2010, a Michoacan government official said.
The attacks were carried out nearly simultaneously early Sunday shortly after members of community self-defense groups tried to expel the drug traffickers from Apatzingan, the Michoacan Attorney General’s Office said.