In what had to be an awesome show of force, armed vigilantes alongside Mexican soldiers and police entered and occupied the Tierra Caliente city of Apatzingan this week.

Federal troops were sent in to the western state of Michoacan in a governmental reply to increased hostility on the part of the armed vigilantes who are intent on driving the Knights Templar cartel out of their traditional stronghold.

When the federal forces moved in, there was initially sporadic gunfire between the vigilantes and the soldiers sent in to keep the peace, but an initial agreement to incorporate the "autodefensas" into the recognized force keeping the peace in Michoacan seems to have doused the flames somewhat.

On Jan. 8 the vigilante forces moved in and set up checkpoints in the area around the city looking for members of the Knights Templar. This time they did so with an armed government escort. There were no reports of firefights throughout the operation according to the Wall Street Journal.

"Today the world will be witness to your liberation, Apatzingan," the vigilantes wrote on their Twitter feed according to the LA Times.

While the tempers settle in the area, police are finding disturbing remnants of the clash that has been ensuing in the area.

The severed heads of four men were found outside a church in the town of Zacan.

"This is what will happen to those who support the Knights Templar," read a note left with the heads according to the International Business Times.

The Times also reported that a mass grave had been discovered in nearby Tinguindin, where it is believed up to 20 bodies had been dumped together.

As part of the response to the ongoing crisis in Michoacan, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said he had earmarked more than $3 billion in infrastructure projects in Michoacan to help bolster the local economy which has suffered tremendously during the recent power struggle going on between the citizens and the cartels.