People killed in fight between rival drug gangs in Mexico

Mexican authorities say at least 21 people have been killed in three shootouts between soldiers and gunmen and a fight between rival drug gangs.

At least 15 deaths occurred in three gunbattles in the western state of Michoacan yesterday, said the spokesman for state prosecutors, Jonathan Arredondo.

He said 10 gunmen were killed in a shootout with an army patrol that was attacked in the township of Patzcuaro, an area of Michoacan popular with tourists. Five other people died in two smaller confrontations in Michoacan, and one federal police officer was wounded.

Michoacan is the state where President Felipe Calderon launched his armed offensive against organised crime in 2006. The state holds gubernatorial elections November 13.

Much of the state's violence has been attributed to a pseudo-religious drug cartel known as La Familia and more recently to an offshoot gang, The Knights Templar.

In the northern state of Sinaloa, six people were killed Friday during a shootout between two groups of armed men on a highway in the town of Guamuchil, assistant state prosecutor Martin Robles said.

All six dead were taken to a funeral home, and gunmen later burst into the facility and carried away three bodies. The other three victims were apparently passers-by caught in the crossfire, Robles said.

Sinaloa is considered the home of the drug cartel of the same name.

12 killed in Mexico drug violence

Twelve people were allegedly shot dead by a drug gang in two Mexican tourist resorts, Xinhua reported.

Five people were killed in a drive-by shooting outside a liquor store in Sinaloa state's Mazatlan city.

Seven bullet-riddled bodies were found in the beach resort of Zihuatanejo in southwestern Guerrero state, police said Sunday.

The La Familia drug cartel is suspected to be behind the killings.

Over 40,000 people have been killed since Mexico launched a crackdown against drug cartels in 2006.

2,000-year-old palace discovered in Mexico

 A team of Mexican specialists discovered remnants of a 2,000-year-old Mayan palace at an archaeological site in the southeastern state of Chiapas.

"The discovery constitutes the first architectural evidence of such an early occupation of the ancient Mayan cities of the Upper Usumacinta basin" in the Lacandona Jungle, the National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement Wednesday.

The project's director, Luis Alberto Martos, said this new discovery was made in a sunken courtyard located in the northern part of the the Plan de Ayutla archaeological site and represents the first evidence of occupation of that area between 50 BC and 50 AD.

Martos added that the earliest concrete evidence of Mayan occupation of that region before now had dated back only to 250 AD.

He said the palace consists of "rooms with walls almost one meter wide, whose corners are rounded, an early characteristic of Mayan architecture".

The archaeologist added that Mayans of a later era dismantled the palace and filled in the courtyard to raise the level of the other buildings, and that is why "the remains of the early palace remained below and were preserved".

The later constructions were built between 250-800 AD and correspond to the Classic period, when this site played an important political role.

This research will provide a deeper look at political interaction and integration in this region, "an area where several kingdoms were in conflict and battles were waged and alliances formed", Martos said.