Firefight in Mexico as vigilantes advance

Men belonging to the Self-Defense Council of Michacan, (CAM), take cover Sunday during a firefight while trying to flush out alleged members of the Knights Templar drug cartel from the town of Nueva Italia, Mexico. The vigilantes say they are liberating territory in the so-called Tierra Caliente and are aiming for the farming hub of Apatzingan, said to be the cartel's central command. Mexican military troops are staying outside the town and there are no federal police in sight.
Men belonging to the Self-Defense Council of Michacan, (CAM), take cover Sunday during a firefight while trying to flush out alleged members of the Knights Templar drug cartel from the town of Nueva Italia, Mexico. The vigilantes say they are liberating territory in the so-called Tierra Caliente and are aiming for the farming hub of Apatzingan, said to be the cartel's central command. Mexican military troops are staying outside the town and there are no federal police in sight.

NUEVA ITALIA, Mexico (AP) - Gunfire erupted Sunday in western Mexico as hundreds of vigilantes pressed their fight over territory with a drug cartel, and Mexico's top security officials prepared to make yet another effort to try to stop the violence.

Members of so-called self-defense groups entered the town of Nueva Italia in Michoacan state on a campaign they say is designed to liberate towns from the control of the Knights Templar cartel. Opponents and critics say the vigilantes are backed by a rival cartel, something the groups vehemently deny.

State Gov. Fausto Vallejo gave a statement Sunday saying he had formally asked the federal government for more help to quell the violence. He announced a meeting Monday in the capital to lay out a strategy to reclaim the peace.

Hundreds of vigilantes drove into Nueva Italia late Sunday morning in a caravan of large trucks, then surrounded the city hall and disarmed local police. An Associated Press journalist witnessed citizens initially welcoming them. But shooting broke out almost immediately in and around the center square.

Gunfire could be heard around the city. Vallejo acknowledged violence has gone on for four days as vigilantes appeared to be advancing and surrounding the farming hub of Apatzingan, which is said to be the Knights Templar's central command.

Vallejo said he formally asked Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong on Friday for more federal forces, "given insufficient state and municipal police."

The self-defense groups claim local and state police are in the employ of the Knights Templar.

Fighting between vigilantes and alleged cartel members has racked Michoacan for almost a year.