22 die as Mexico gangs battle police

Twenty gang members and two police officers were killed in a series of gun battles across the Mexican state of Michoacan.

Men from the drug cartel Knights Templar tried to ambush federal police by blocking off roads and bridges with blazing cars and lorries but suffered heavy casualties. Fifteen officers were injured.

In May president Enrique Peña Nieto ordered a general to take over police and military operations in the western state after a surge in killings, kidnaps and extortion. Mr Peña Nieto has vowed to reduce the drug gang related violence that has exploded in Mexico in the last decade.

In Michoacan self-defence vigilante groups have formed in several towns vowing to fight the violence, said the BBC. Hundreds of people demonstrated in the town of Los Reyes on Monday opposing the Knights Templar. Armed men opened fire on the demonstrators, killing five and injuring at least eight.

Since Mr Peña Nieto took office in December, murders have fallen slightly but violent crime is still rampant in areas. The government last week captured the brutal leader of the Zetas cartel, Miguel Angel Trevino.

In 2006 former president Felipe Calderon launched a major crackdown on drug cartels in Michoacan, sending in military-led teams. The offensive has so far seen more than 70,000 killed across Mexico.

The cartels control the trafficking of drugs from South America to the US, a business worth an estimated £8.4 billion a year.