Shootout in Mexico between cops and two drugs rival gangs lead to 15 deaths.

MEXICO CITY: According the sources at least 15 people died in a huge shootout between police and two rival drug gangs in northern Mexico.

The pre-dawn battle near the remote town of Las Varas started as a fire fight between rival drug trafficking gangs, then escalated when police arrived, said Eduardo Esparza of the prosecutor's office for the state of Chihuahua, which borders the United States.

The region is hotly disputed territory for Mexico's drug cartels because its mountainous terrain and proximity to the border make it a strategic corridor for shipping narcotics to the US.

Investigators believe the groups involved in the shootout were "La Linea" -- the armed wing of the Juarez cartel -- and hitmans from the powerful Sinaloa cartel, Esparza told AFP.

Fifteen people died -- all from the drug gangs -- and five more were arrested, state police chief Oscar Aparicio told Radio Formula.

It was the latest in a series of deadly clashes between police, rival drug gangs and warring factions within the Sinaloa cartel, which has been in turmoil since its kingpin, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was extradited to the United States in January.