MEXICO CITY (AP) — A state police officer and her two bodyguards were killed in a highway attack in Mexico’s violent western state of Michoacan, security officials said Monday.

Michoacan’s state security agency said on X, formerly Twitter, that three members of the state Civil Guard had died in the line of duty Sunday night. One of them, Cristal García Hurtado, was a regional police commander. Local press reported that she had been decapitated.

The attack occurred on the highway connecting the towns of Patzcuaro and Uruapan.

The Michoacan state prosecutor’s office, which is investigating, did not immediately comment.

Michoacan has been particularly hard hit by gang turf wars, with the Jalisco New Generation cartel fighting a local gang, the Viagras, for control. Thousands of residents have been displaced as organized crime experiments with drone attacks and improvised explosive devices.

In February, two hopefuls to be mayor of the town of Maravatío were killed within hours of each other.

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