At least 21 people have been killed after a fierce gun battle in the latest explosion of violence between rival Mexican drugs gangs.
The bloodshed took place only 12 miles from the U.S. border in Arizona in an area that is one of the main transit routes used by the powerful drug cartels.
Mexican authorities said the shoot-out in the state of Sonora was a showdown between rival drugs and migrant trafficking gangs.
A wounded man being taken to an ambulance in Caborca
Violent trade: At least 21 people have been killed in a shoot-out between rival Mexican drugs gangs, just 12 miles south of the U.S. border in Arizona
Already this year more than 5,000 people in Mexico have been killed in drug-related violence.
The total death toll since the Mexican government launched an all-out war on the drug cartels in 2006 stands at 23,000.
The border towns have been gripped by increasing violence over lucrative drug routes in regions like Sonora, Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez.
The ruthless cartels have killed hundreds of police officers, military officers, top officials and politicians with 2010 likely to be one of the worst year yet.
Mexican authorities said six people were injured in the gun battle and were among the nine who were arrested.
Police seized vehicles and automatic weapons left behind near the remote hamlets of Tubutama and Saric, near the town of Nogales.
The Sonora Attorney General said the gun battle was between involved 'two groups of suspected drug traffickers and undocumented migrants'.
Gangs often fight for control of trafficking routes and sometimes steal 'shipments' of undocumented migrants from each other.
Violence near the Arizona border has led to calls from officials in the U.S. state for greater control of the border.
The increasing violence is seen as one reason for a controversial law passed in April requiring Arizona police to ask people about their immigration status in certain situations.
President Obama has condemned the law and in his first major speech on immigration on Thursday called for an overhaul of the system.
The U.S. has more than 12million illegal migrants, most from Mexico, and Mr Obama is under pressure to introduce a path to citizenship for those migrants.
He also called for increased security along the border with Mexico and recently sent U.S. troops to the region to help out the border patrol.
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