ACAPULCO - Two armed attacks on Monday left at least 16 people dead, including around a dozen police officers, in regions of Mexico plagued by violence related to drug trafficking, authorities said.
In the southern state of Guerrero, unidentified attackers targeted a security patrol in the municipality of Coyuca de Benitez, prosecutor Alejandro Hernandez said.
According to preliminary information, 11 members of the municipal police force were killed, he said, adding that the motive for the massacre was being investigated.
A senior state security official was traveling in the convoy when it was attacked, authorities said, without confirming media reports that he was murdered along with police bodyguards.
Security forces were later seen patrolling the area -- where several lifeless bodies lay on the ground -- as a police helicopter flew overhead.
The second attack, in the neighboring western state of Michoacan, left five people dead and two more injured, authorities said.
A group of gunmen attacked a brother of the mayor of the town of Tacambaro, according to the state prosecutor's office.
A restaurant worker and a member of the police force were among those killed, while the mayor's brother was wounded, it said.
In a video posted on social media, gunmen were seen opening fire before fleeing in several vehicles.