At least 14 killed in gunfight in drug-plagued northern Mexico state

MEXICO CITY — A shootout in northern Mexico left at least 14 people dead Wednesday, according to government officials. It was the latest mass killing amid a sharp resurgence of violence related to the country’s drug war.

The gunfight occurred between rival drug gangs in a rural part of Chihuahua state, which borders Texas and New Mexico, according to the state prosecutor’s office. Initial reports put the death toll at 26, but Felix González, a spokesman for the state prosecutor, said that 14 deaths had been confirmed as of Wednesday afternoon.

The violence follows a deadly incident Friday in which 17 suspected drug traffickers were killed near the Pacific Coast city of Mazatlan in a confrontation with police that some relatives of the victims suspected might have involved extrajudicial killings. Three days later, nine people were killed in the state of Puebla, east of Mexico City, as part of a festering dispute among fuel thieves.

The recent violence has underscored the deteriorating security across Mexico. More than 11,000 people were killed in the first five months of this year, an increase of 30 percent over the same period last year, putting Mexico on pace for what could be the deadliest year in its post-revolution history.