Workers were today continuing to pull bodies out of a burned casino in northern Mexico, where gunmen spread petrol and ignited a fire which trapped and killed at least 53 patrons and employees.

A southern Mexican town’s 15-member police force has quit for fear of being assassinated in retaliation for a shootout with gunmen.

Mexico’s newly sworn-in president sent more than 6,500 soldiers, sailors and federal police to violence-plagued Michoacan state to crack down on drug turf wars that have left hundreds dead in a wave of execution-style killings and beheadings.