5 vigilantes reported killed by ambush in western Mexico

Funerary vehicles commissioned by family members of those killed in Apatzingan a day earlier, sit parked outside the forensic morgue in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. According to the federal security commissioner for Michoacan state, federal troops and police engaged in clashes with armed civilians in the town of Apatzingan Tuesday, leaving nine civilians dead. But family members tell a different story, one with a higher death toll. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) (The Associated Press)

Family members wait to collect the bodies of loved ones, outside the forensic morgue in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. According to the federal security commissioner for Michoacan state, federal troops and police engaged in clashes with armed civilians in the town of Apatzingan Tuesday, leaving nine civilians dead. But family members tell a different story, one with a higher death toll. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) (The Associated Press)

CORRESTS LAST NAME TO VAZQUEZ -In this Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015 photo, Carlos Vazquez, a vigilante and survivor of a recent shooting, describes the confrontation between the vigilante group and government forces in an interview at a community center in Colonias, outside Apatzingan, Michoacan, Mexico. He covered his face out of fear of recriminations by federal police and introduced himself as Carlos Vasquez. He said he was in a civilian convoy following the federal police during a shooting that left nine civilians dead during federal operations in the community of Apatzingan Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) (The Associated Press)

Authorities say five members of a vigilante-style community police force have been killed in an ambush in western Mexico.

The prosecutors' office in the western state of Michoacan said Monday that eight others were wounded Sunday in the mountain township of Aquila.

The 13 vigilantes had been patrolling a rural area in a truck when unidentified assailants opened fire on them.

The wounded are being treated at local hospitals. There was no information on their condition.

Michoacan saw several vigilante groups rise up against a local drug cartel starting in 2013.

Prosecutors said Monday they had seized 20 properties owned by leaders of the drug cartel, known as the Knights Templar.