A seven-month-old baby has been found alive among the bodies of three adults and six children who were gunned down in a car in northern Mexico.

Faith was stowed away by her mother Christina Langford Johnson in the back seat of their SUV.

Officials in the Central American country said she then got out of the vehicle, but she was shot and killed.

Two other mothers, twin babies and four other children were also gunned down in the attack. Five children were also wounded and were later flown to an Arizona hospital for treatment.

Faith was found inside the vehicle 11 hours later.

Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Show all 20 1 /20 Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade A soldier burns an illegal opium plantation near Pueblo Viejo in the Sierra Madre del Sur, in the southern state of Guerrero, Mexico Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Illegal opium plantation burning Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Soldiers cut opium poppies as they destroy a field of illegal plantation Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Poppy farmer Nieves Garcia reacts next to her husband, "We are not drug traffickers, we want a dignified life," said Garcia, who has grown poppies since she was a child. "My kids have left this place because there's no way of getting ahead." Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Clouds over the Sierra Madre del Sur Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Poppy farmer Francisco Santiago Clemente walks with his gun on his back in a corn field Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Opium poppies burn after being set on fire to by the army Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Soldiers arrive at the area where they found an illegal opium plantation Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Poppy farmer Santiago Sanchez holds opium paste Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Soldiers unload their weapons at the camp near the area where they found an illegal opium plantation Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade A soldier burns an illegal opium plantatio Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade A child sits on a sidewalk in Santa Cruz Yucucani Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Soldiers destroy a field of illegal opium plantation Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade A woman tends to her opium poppy plant outside her house Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade A soldier waves to locals near the area Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade A soldier stands near residents as he arrives at the area where they found an illegal opium plantation Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Soldiers camp near the area where they found an illegal opium plantation Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Soldiers patrol the area of Pueblo Viejo Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade A soldier burns an illegal opium plantation near Pueblo Viejo Reuters Mexico seeks to halt heroin trade Soldiers cut opium poppies Reuters

Mexican officials have said they believe the family were mistaken for members of a drug cartel by a rival gang as they travelled along a dirt road in Bavispe, Sonora, on their way to Chihuahua.

There had been a gunfight in the area earlier in the day, they added.

This was disputed by family member Max LeBaron, who said he believed they had been targeted.

“They are just trying to terrorise the community, the people who are here,” he told CBS News. “They are just trying to run us out of our farms.”

The group belonged to the LeBaron family – a breakaway Mormon community that settled in the hills and plains of northern Mexico decades ago when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned polygamy.

Drug-related violence has been raging in Mexico over the last two decades, with cartel gunmen increasingly unconcerned about killing children as collateral damage.

Around the ambush scene, investigators found over 200 shell casings, mostly from assault rifles.

“Lately it’s getting worse. This is a whole new level,” said Taylor Langford, a relative of the dead who splits his time between the Mexican community and his home in the Salt Lake City suburb of Herriman, Utah.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The group have previously faced violence in the region.

In 2010, two members of the Chihuahua Mormon community, including one from the LeBaron family, were killed in apparent revenge after security forces tracked drug gang members.