Mexico: 19 Massacred by 'Cartel Jalisco' in Turf War

About 380 national police agents are monitoring the Mexican city of Uruapan, in Michoacan state, after the murder of 19 people Thursday. Their bodies were abandoned in three different areas of the city, authorities said Saturday.

RELATED: 

Mexico to Take Legal Action Against US Post-El Paso Shooting

The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) criminal organization took credit for the massacre, according to the state prosecutor's office. CJNG made threats against the a rival group, La Nueva Familia Michoacana. On Saturday, the Ministry of Public Security increased the number of national police in Uruapan.

"We will not step back in the fight against crime. We will remain firm in the ... determination of Governor Silvano Aureoles for zero tolerance against those who seek to destabilize our state," Michoacan Secretary of Public Security, Israel Patron Reyes, told the media, Aug. 10.

With the arrival of 120 Michoacan State Police, there are now some 200 uniformed state members and another 180 agents from the newly-formed National Guard meant to reinforce regional security.

Reyes called on the population to avoid disseminating and video materials that can generate confusion among the population, after images began circulating in social media that were labeled as from the murders in Uruapan, but were not.

"These videos or images generate confusion, are from other circumstances or other events different from those today; they are malicious in intent and only seek to generate panic in the society," he said.

The State Prosecutor's Office said that the two cartels seek control of illegal operations in Michoacan and the border areas with the states of Guanajuato, Jalisco, State of Mexico, Colima and Querétaro.

The CJNG and La Nueva Familia Michoacana seek to take the place left by the cartel of the Knights Templar that was dismantled by the previous national administration.