Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images

A hooded armed man stands guard in downtown Tecoanapa, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, on Jan. 24.

Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images

Hooded men stand guard outside the Justice palace, in Ayutla de los Libres, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, on Jan. 24.

Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images

Armed men guard the Justice palace from a car, in Ayutla de los Libres, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, on Jan. 24.

Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images

A female guard watches over 27 people arrested by a residents' police force in Ayutla de los Libres in the Guerrero state of Mexico on Jan. 25.

Hundreds of men and women in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero have armed themselves with rifles, pistols and machetes to defend their villages against drug gangs that local police are unable or unwilling, to stop.

"There isn't one of us who hasn't felt the pain ... of seeing them take a family member and not being able to ever get them back," said the young civilian self-defense patrol member, who identified himself as "just another representative of the people of the mountain." Continue reading Associated Press article.

Guerrero, home to the Pacific resort town of Acapulco, has been one of Mexico's hardest hit states by drug violence, which has left more than 70,000 people killed across the country since 2006.

--Getty Images, Associated Press

Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images

Some of the 27 people arrested by residents of Ayutla de los Libres, who have formed their own vigilante police force, are kept under custody inside a house in Ayutla de los Libres, on Jan. 25.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Catholic priest Fabio Colindres speaks with a member of Mara Salvatrucha gang during a mass at the prison of Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador on Tuesday, June 19, 2012.

Huffingtonpost.com reports: For twenty years Mara Salvatrucha-13 and 18th Street brought devastating violence to the poor and war-torn country of El Salvador, helping make it the most violent country in the hemisphere. However, now after 100 days on June 16, 2012, a delicately-balanced peace treaty among the two gangs in El Salvador has resulted in a 58 percent reduction in violence-related cases and the saving of close to 800 lives.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

A member of Mara Salvatrucha gang poses at the prison of Ciudad Barrios on Tuesday.

Jose Cabezas / AFP - Getty Images

Mara Salvatrucha gang members attend a mass at the prison on Tuesday.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

•Sign up for the msnbc.com Photos Newsletter

Normally, I wouldn't publish such a shocking image, but in this case, I think the news warrants it. The violence in Mexico has been rising and is now at a level where such a brazen act occurred in a highly populated area with witnesses. Estimates from various groups put the number of deaths at somewhere between 35,000 and 42,000 since President Calderon launched a campaign against drug cartels in late 2006.

Veracruz, a port city, has been relatively free from the kind of violence that has taken over other areas, especially the U.S. border cities, until now.  Continue to scroll to see the image.

AP reports:

Masked gunmen blocked traffic on a busy avenue in a Gulf of Mexico coastal city Tuesday and dumped the bodies of 35 slaying victims as horrified motorists watched, authorities said.  Continue reading...

Veracruz En Red / EPA

The crime scene where two trucks were found with 35 bodies along an avenue in Boca del Rio, Veracruz metropolitan zone, Mexico, on Sept. 20. According to authorities, the victims, 23 men and 12 women, were alleged members of Los Zetas cartel and were killed by their rivals of Gulf cartel.

Editor's note: This post contains graphic content which some viewers may find disturbing.

Reuters reports:

A suspected member of the Caballeros Templarios, a new spin-off cartel in Mexico's Michoacan state linked to the Gulf Cartel, and a soldier were killed after gunmen opened fire on a convoy of patrolling soldiers, according to local media.

Leovigildo Gonzalez / Reuters

The body of a gunman lies in the woods after a shootout with soldiers in Zirahuen, near Morelia, Mexico, on August 24.

Related content:

• Slideshow - Narco culture permeates Mexico, leaks across border
• Analysis - Mexico's splintering drug gangs pose new security risk