Mexican soldiers have been deployed to the western state of Michoacan as part of a crackdown on the Knights Templar, one of the country's most powerful cartels.

But local vigilantes have already started taking matters into their own hands after years of extortion, kidnappings and murders by the cartel.

In February, the groups began arming themselves to police their own towns.

Al Jazeera's Adam Raney reports from La Ruana, Michoacan.