A suspected high-ranking drug cartel member implicated in last year’s disappearance of 43 college students in the Mexican state of Guerrero has been captured.

President Felipe Calderon appealed to Mexicans to support the fight against organised crime in a national TV address hours after troops killed 15 suspected gang members.

At least 30 gunmen burst into a drug rehabilitation centre in a Mexican border state capital and opened fire, killing 19 men and wounding four people.