Police killed 14 armed men in a shootout Monday night in a rural part of Calera, a town in the northern Mexican state of Zacatecas, local officials said on Tuesday.

The shooting also left three police officers injured but in stable condition, and led to the arrest of one of the attackers, who was also injured, the Zacatecas Public Security Secretariat said in a statement.

The exchange of gunfire began after the armed men attacked local police officers carrying out "tactical-operational" measures in the Nueva Alianza district of Calera, located about 49 kilometers from the state capital Zacatecas, the secretariat said.

After officers "repelled the aggression in the Nueva Alianza community... 14 of the aggressors lost their lives, and one more was injured and was transferred to receive medical attention," the agency said.

Police seized eight rifles, one of them with a grenade launcher attachment, three vehicles and drugs following the clash which, according to local press reports, lasted several hours.

Zacatecas, a colonial-era mining city, has seen an increase in violence this year as rival drug trafficking rings fight to dominate drug trafficking routes to the United States.

Homicides in the city jumped 65 percent in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period of 2019, going from 392 murders to 648, one of the largest increases nationwide, according to figures from Mexico's Security Cabinet.

Police presence in the area has been reinforced with ground and air patrols, the secretariat said, adding "it will spare no cost" to restore order.

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