Mexico vigilante leader wants cartel bosses dead, not captured

Firefighters stand outside a pharmacy that was set on fire in Apatzingan January 15, 2014. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez

LA RUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - A vigilante leader in a Mexican state torn by violence said on Wednesday it would be better to kill the heads of the region's dominant drug cartel than arrest them, and rejected a government order to disarm.

Vigilantes have been battling the Knights Templar cartel in the western state of Michoacan for almost a year, creating a major security problem for President Enrique Pena Nieto.