10 militants were killed in a clash with Mexican security forces

The shootout occurred early in the morning during a joint police and military patrol in the municipality of Yuriria in Guanajuato, a central industrial region that is also home to rival drug cartels.

Guanajuato’s State Security Office initially said eight gunmen had been killed, but later said two more bodies were found with gunshot wounds.

“This discovery confirms that 10 members (of the criminal group) have been neutralized,” the message reads.

According to the statement, security personnel used “lawful and proportionate use of force” during the clash, which left three police officers with non-life-threatening injuries.

A dozen firearms were seized, as well as several stolen cars and body armor.

The violence in Guanajuato is linked to the ongoing conflict between the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American country.

Drug-related violence has killed more than 450,000 people in Mexico since the government sent in the army to fight human trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.

And gang-related violence has shown no signs of abating since Claudia Sheinbaum took office on Oct. 1 as Mexico’s first female president.

She has ruled out declaring war on the cartels and instead proposed continuing her predecessor’s strategy, using social policy to fight crime at its root and making better use of intelligence.