Bodies of 13 gang members found in Mexican lake

The head prosecutor of Jalisco state, Eduardo Almaguer, told the Milenio television network on Saturday that the dead apparently were members of a gang and came from nearby communities.

He said they were killed by their former criminal allies in the neighbouring state of Michoacan on or around September 21.

The bodies of the 12 men and one woman were then apparently thrown into a river that feeds into the lake.

They were found at the opposite end of the lake from the town of Chapala, popular among tourists and retired Americans.

Also on Saturday, a soldier died in a shoot-out with criminals in the central state of Guanajuato, a day after five soldiers were killed in an ambush in the northern state of Sinaloa.

The Guanajuato state prosecutor's office said police and soldiers were chasing a three-vehicle convoy of armed men in the township of Comonfort, Guanajuato, when the gunfight broke out and the soldiers was shot dead.

It appeared unrelated to Friday's attack on a military convoy in Sinaloa, which was probably launched to free a wounded drug suspect being transported in an ambulance guarded by the convoy.

Defence secretary General Salvador Cienfuegos used harsh language to describe the attackers, who apparently used grenades to attack the army convoy.

"Our soldiers were ambushed by sick, insane criminal beasts," he said.