ANTUNEZ, Mexico — The Mexican government moved in to quell violence between vigilantes and a drug cartel in Michoacan state, but the campaign turned deadly early Tuesday with a confrontation between soldiers and civilians who witnesses say were unarmed.
There were widely varying reports of casualties, but Associated Press journalists saw the bodies of two men said to have died in the clash, and spoke to the family of a third man who was reportedly killed in the same incident.
The attorney general’s office said it could not confirm a number of dead. The Interior Ministry said it had no information about reports that soldiers had fired on an unarmed crowd.
‘‘This is how they plan to protect the community? We don’t want them,’’ said Gloria Perez Torres, who was grieving over the body of her brother, Mario, 56.
Antunez was calm again Tuesday, and self-defense groups remained armed and in control.
In the city of Apatzingan, hundreds of federal police offices, armored vehicles, and buses amassed in the city square.
Osorio Chong announced the new strategy following a weekend of firefights as the vigilantes extended their control to the communities of Antunez, Paracuaro, and Nueva Italia.