Picture of police vehicles torched by gunmen who also killed 14 police officers in an ambush in the community of Aguililla, in the Mexican state of Michoacan, on Monday. Photo: VCG

Gunmen killed 14 police officers Monday in an ambush in the state of Michoacan in western Mexico, authorities said, condemning the latest violence in the region, a hot spot for criminal groups and vigilantes.

Local media reports said the state police were executing a warrant on the city outskirts when gunmen in armored four-by-four trucks opened fire.

They torched at least two patrol cars in the ensuing chaos and left signs with threatening messages directed at the security forces at the scene.

The government "condemns the attack that killed 14 police officers in Aguililla, Michoacan. We are in contact with the state government and will put all our resources at their disposal... to find those responsible and bring them to justice," the federal security ministry wrote on Twitter.

Michoacan Governor Silvano Aureoles also condemned the "cowardly" ambush.

Authorities set up police checkpoints on state roads after the attack. Michoacan has been racked for years by violence by drug cartels, other criminal gangs and armed "self-defense" groups.

A shootout between two armed groups on August 30 left nine people dead and 11 wounded in the town of Tepalcatepec, around 75 kilometers from Aguililla. Authorities also found 19 bodies on August 8 in the town of Uruapan, in central Michoacan - some dismembered, others hanging from a bridge. The state prosecutor blamed the incident on a turf war between rival drug gangs.