While things have quieted down in the Mexican state of Michoacan since the recent flare-up of violence between the Knights Templar cartel and the armed vigilantes that have organized to combat them, a new round of violence erupted on Saturday in Guerrero, Michoacan's neighbor to the south.

Authorities killed eight alleged gunmen in two separate incidents in two towns on the same day, according to the Latin American Herald Tribune.

The first incident took place in Zumpango del Rio where large crowds had gathered for a festival. Federal police report that they engaged the gunmen in a bar where all four were killed. There was no report of injuries among the police officers at the scene.

About an hour later in in the small community of Pantla outside the city of Zihuatanejo another shootout occurred. This time it was Mexican soldiers who say that four gunmen attacked their convoy.

As in Michoacan, Guerrero now has a sizable force of armed vigilantes patrolling the smaller cities outside the capital city of Chilpancingo. Estimates are that at least half the municipalities have an "autodefensas" force in operation. In Guerrero, the vigilantes have organized against the Los Rojos cartel, which is comprised of some of the remnants of the Beltran Leyva cartel.

Recent conjecture from the area suggests that the Knights Templar and the remnants of the Beltran Leyva cartel might be trying to form an alliance. The Beltran Leyva cartel, once one of the most powerful in Mexico, has been severely fragmented, and the Knights Templar have been enduring a direct onslaught in their home territory in recent weeks.

After sending thousands of troops into Michoacan, the government, which originally hoped to disarm the vigilantes operating in the state, has instead agreed to a tenuous alliance with the vigilante groups, working side by side with the armed civilian militias manning checkpoints on roads and patrolling rural areas. It is currently unclear if a similar situation will be instated in Guerrero, though the government has begun to increase its personnel operating in that state as well.