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XINHUA

At least 12 people were killed in a confrontation between police and armed civilians in the town of El Salto, in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, Governor Enrique Alfaro said Thursday, June 23.

Four police officers were among the fatal victims, Alfaro said via Twitter.

“Municipal and state police shot down eight criminals on Wednesday (June 22) and left three people seriously injured, after responding to a report of a safe house where there were hidden weapons,” Alfaro said.

“Unfortunately, four police officers from the town of El Salto were killed in the line of duty.”

In March, Mexico’s National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) deployed a group of soldiers to violence-ridden Jalisco as part of a Joint Task Force program to strengthen surveillance of criminal activity in the state in the wake of a wave of killings.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) emerged in 2010 as a cell of the Sinaloa Cartel and now has a presence in at least seven Mexican states, as well as Mexico City.