Villagers in southern Mexico are arming kids as young as eight years old to defend against violent drug cartels that have been terrorizing their communities, according to news reports.

Nearly two dozen children in Chilapa, where 10 local musicians were gunned down last week returning from a party, were trained and armed to defend against Los Ardillos, a ruthless gang that has been preying on the region, the BBC reported.

The gang, whose name means “the squirrels” in English, is blamed for the massacre.

Children have also taken up arms in nearby Chilpancingo, about 220 miles south of Mexico City, and in the village of Ayahualtempa, according to the Spanish-language newspaper El Universal.

The largely indigenous communities are in the state of Guerrero — which, ironically, means “warrior” — one of Mexico’s most violent regions due to bloody turf wars between rival drug gangs.

Mexico continues to struggle with cartel-fueled violence, which saw a record-setting 34,582 homicides last year despite President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s promise to bring the gangs under control.