At least 11 people have been killed in an apparent fight between suspected drug cartel members and residents of a farming community in central Mexico.

Violent video footage shows dozens of people – some in cowboy hats – armed with sickles, machetes and rifles.

After a tense stand-off in a field, they began chasing and hacking at other men as automatic gunfire broke out.

It happened in the town of Texcaltitlan, about 80 miles (130km) southwest of Mexico City.

State police said eight of the dead were gang members and the other three were locals.

Villagers reportedly set their bodies and vehicles alight.

The gang hasn’t been named, but the Familia Michoacana drug cartel has been dominant in the area for a decade.

Local media reported that gang members had demanded that farmers pay an extortion fee for each acre of land.

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Cartels in Mexico are well known for extorting businesses and often attack or burn ranches or businesses that don’t pay.

Familia Michoacana is notorious for ambushing police – as well as a 2022 attack in which it massacred 20 people in Totolapan, in neighbouring Guerrero state, including the mayor and his father.

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