Mexico urges vigilantes to stand down in drug gang conflict

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto gestures before he signs into law a radical reform of the country's energy, at the National Palace in Mexico City December 20, 2013. REUTERS/Henry Romero

NUEVA ITALIA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico's government on Monday pledged to take control of a violent western state after days of fighting between masked vigilantes and members of one of the country's most powerful drug cartels.

Since late last year, vigilante groups in the state of Michoacan have moved deeper into territory controlled by the Knights Templar cartel and they now are converging on Apatzingan, considered one of gang's main strongholds.