Tragedy as 13 police officers killed in ambush by gunmen from drug cartel. Read where this happened

At least 13 police officers have been killed after they were ambushed by gunmen in armoured vehicles in Mexico.

Another nine were wounded in the attack by suspected members of a drug cartel who fired on the officers using sniper rifles and AR-15 and AK-47 assault weapons.

The attack took place in El Aguaje, a town in the Aguililla region of Michoacan state, where violence attributed to drug cartels has spiked in recent months.

Governor Silvano Aureoles said: "No attack on the police will go unpunished, and this was a cowardly, devious attack because they laid an ambush in this area of the road."

Federal and state security forces have set up roadblocks in western Mexico's so-called "hot lands" as they hunt for the killers.

Images published in Mexican media showed vehicles burning in the middle of a road and messages apparently signed by Jalisco New Generation, one of Mexico's most powerful and rising cartels.

The latest violence in Michoacan, an important avocado-growing state, has brought back memories of the bloodiest days of Mexico's war on drug cartels between 2006 and 2012.

In August, police found 19 bodies in the town of Uruapan, including nine hung from a bridge.

On the same day, about 45 miles north of Aguililla, there were fierce clashes between members of Jalisco New Generation and regional self-defence groups.

For decades, Michoacan has been known for marijuana plantations and the making of methamphetamine.

The local port of Lázaro Cárdenas is a key entry point for chemicals used to make synthetic drugs.

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