Three dead as vigilantes clash in Mexico

Chilpancingo (Mexico), April 1

A shootout between civilian self-defence forces has left three people dead and 11 wounded in Mexico's troubled southern state of Guerrero, authorities have said.

The Union of Peoples and Organisations of Guerrero (UPOEG), a vigilante militia formed in January 2013 to combat drug gangs, clashed late Monday with a faction that broke away last year, the state public security department said yesterday.

The confrontation in the town of Tierra Colorada, near the state capital Chilpancingo, took place hours after members of the rival factions had a verbal altercation on a road earlier in the day.

It was unclear to which group the dead belonged, as both sides claimed losses in the clash.

Guerrero is one of Mexico's poorest and most violent states.

It was in this state that 43 college students were allegedly abducted by police and handed to a gang that slaughtered the group, in a case that has turned into the biggest challenge of President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration. (AFP)