NUEVA ITALIA, Mexico: Vigilantes seized a drug cartel’s bastion in western Mexico on Sunday, sparking a shootout as civilian militias gained new ground in their struggle against the gang in a violence-plagued region.

Hundreds of armed civilians riding in more than 100 pickup trucks rolled into the Michoacan state town of Nueva Italia and were met by gunfire from presumed Knights Templar cartel members when they reached the municipal office.

“They shot at us from two locations and the clash lasted around an hour and a half,” Jaime Ortiz, a 47-year-old farmer and vigilante leader from the town of La Ruana, told AFP.

Two members of the self-defense unit were wounded, he said, standing in the 40,000-population town’s main square, surrounded by hundreds of men armed with AK-47 assault rifles, bulletproof vests and radios.

Some sidewalks were soaked in blood in the town’s empty streets.

Later, on a highway leading to the town, authorities found two men hanging from a bridge, though it was not immediately know if the killings were related to the vigilantes’ advance. Mexican cartels have hanged many victims in recent years.