Clashes with criminal gangs in Mexico left seven police officers dead, while five more bodies were found in other parts of the country, dpa quoted officials as saying. Four policemen were killed Sunday in an ambush as they responded to reports of a traffic accident in Brisenas in the western central state of Michoaca, the state prosecutor said. Six others were injured in the incident, five seriously. Later Sunday, "armed civilians travelled from Michoacan to the neighbouring state of Jalisco and clashed with police in the town of Ayotlan," a state security spokesman said. "Three of the town's police officers lost their lives and one was injured," he said. Two trucks impounded in Ayotlan, around 150 kilometres from Brisenas, were found to contain ammunition, spent cartridges and bloodstains, "indicating casualties on the side of the armed group," he said. Three police officers received gunshot injuries in a clash in Quitupan, around 70 kilometres south-west of Ayotlan. Three bodies were found in Quitupan with their hands tied and shot in the head, local media reported. About 20 kilometres to the north-east, in the town of Marcos Castellanos, two burnt bodies were discovered, the reports said.
