Aircraft crashes in western Mexico

MORELIA–An aircraft crashed near a lagoon in western Mexico on Thursday but authorities did not report its size, how it went down or whether there were any casualties.

Separately, federal officials said three marines were wounded in a gunfight with suspected members of the Knights Templar drug cartel in the town of Arteaga in the restive state of Michoacan.

The state public security agency said on Twitter that the aircraft went down near the Infiernillo lagoon. The lagoon is near Arteaga but the agency said the incidents were unrelated.

The government of President Enrique Pena Nieto has deployed nearly 10,000 troops and federal police to Michoacan to combat the Knights Templar gang, which had been facing off with vigilante militias.

The marines killed Knights Templar leader Nazario “El Chayo” Moreno on March 9. Moreno had been declared dead by the previous government in 2010 but local people always believed he was still alive.

The authorities are pursuing the cartel’s other top leader, Servando “La Tuta” Gomez.