Five killed in southern Mexico clash

Mexico: Five people were killed and eight others were wounded Wednesday in a clash between armed groups in Mexico`s violence-plagued southern state of Guerrero, officials said.

The federal government said in a brief statement that the army was deployed to the municipality of Tlacotepec to provide security and that three large weapons and four vehicles were seized.

The remote, mountainous region is used by drug gangs to grow opium poppies.

The statement followed conflicting tolls from Guerrero state government officials, who had reported seven to 10 dead, and 20 wounded.

The federal government did not indicate who was involved in the clash, but a report from the state prosecutor`s office said "various clashes between hitmen" had taken place in El Naranjo, a hamlet belonging to Tlacotepec.

The state government`s secretary general, David Cienfuegos, said no government forces were involved. State officials said the violence had begun late Tuesday.

The impoverished state of Guerrero has been the scene of some of Mexico`s worst drug gang-related violence.

It was in the city of Iguala that crooked police detained 43 college students in September and delivered them to the Guerreros Unidos gang, which slaughtered the group, according to prosecutors.

More recently, residents of the town of Chilapa reported that at least 11 people were kidnapped by an armed group that occupied the town for five days last week.

While the group described itself as a vigilante force, authorities are investigating whether it was infiltrated by a gang. Two drug gangs are feuding in Chilapa.

A Chilapa mayoral candidate was murdered earlier this month ahead of June 7 elections.