Mexican authorities logged over 20 homicides in the western state of Sinaloa as of September 14, the latest violence to plague an area where increasingly frequent shootouts are fuelling fears of the possible start of an intra-cartel war.The Sinaloa’s Secretary of Security said on Saturday that three people died during a confrontation between armed civilians and the army. Five soldiers were wounded in the attack. The incident reportedly took place on a highway near the community of Bellavista, when the army members noticed the presence of armed men and began to pursue them, triggering the confrontation.Earlier, two dead men were found in different parts of the city; one was left at a gas station and the other on the side of a canal near the Culiacan International Airport, according to Sinaloa’s Secretary of Security.The deaths bring the number of killings within the week to over 20, after 12 killings were registered between Monday (September 9) and Thursday (September 12) and at least seven more were logged on Friday (September 13). Sinaloa, on the Pacific Coast, is the home base of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, a drug gang once led by kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is now serving a life sentence in the U.S..The July arrest of another veteran gang leader, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, has stoked fears of infighting and turf battles.The prosecutor’s office had also said on Friday it received eight reports in Culiacan of men who had been kidnapped. In Culiacan, businesses have closed, public transportation has been cut back and Independence Day festivities have been canceled due to the worsening violence.