DONALD Trump has vowed to "wage war" on Mexican drug cartel "monsters" who allegedly killed a Mormon family.

The President tweeted that it was time for Mexico and the US to end the gangs and "wipe them off the face of the earth".

His remarks came after a family were ambushed by merciless gunmen in the border state of Sonora, on Monday evening.

Seventeen members of the LeBaron and Langford families were travelling in three cars when gunmen sprayed their vehicles with bullets.

It's feared that of the victims – including babies – may then have been burned alive and relatives fear some of the female victims were raped, reports DailyMail.com.

In response today Trump tweeted that the family were "caught between two vicious drug cartels, who were shooting at each other."

He offered US military support to combat the cartels.

Trump wrote: "The cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!"

Several family members have now told how gunmen opened fire on one child running away and revealed how others burned to death inside a car that was torched.

Other young children managed to escape and hide by the roadside while one of the mothers was shot in the chest as she put her hands up to surrender.

BOY HID HIS SIBLINGS

Survivors  described how one boy managed to hide his wounded siblings – some less than a year old – in bus.

Others are still missing sparking genuine concerns the death toll in the wake of the atrocity will soon rise.

It is still unclear what motivated the killings, which took place on a dirt road between Chihuahua and Sonora states.

However, it is not the first time that members of the break-away church have been attacked in northern Mexico, where their forebears settled decades ago.

Cartel violence in Mexico

In the first half of 2019, there were a staggering 17,608 gangland murders in Mexico – with 94 people being killed every single day.

Last year saw a total of 33,341, making it the bloodiest year on record, but this year is set to be the most violent of all time.

And the bloodshed is spilling into affluent tourist hotspots including Mexico City and Cancun – where over half a million Brits holiday every summer.

While the latest homicide statistics are horrific, the methods cartels use to keep rivals in check is just as terrifying.

In recent years, large cartels have splintered into smaller factions who then battle for previously shared turf, escalating the violence, and prompting kidnaps and torture.

In 2009, Benjamin LeBaron, an anti-crime activist who was related to those killed in Monday's attack, was murdered in neighbouring Chihuahua state.

The authorities are even investigating whether the large family were even mistaken for a rival cartel gang.

Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said the attack could have been a case of mistaken identity between "conflicting groups in the area."

And family members believe it was a "targeted" kidnapping after one relative reported receiving a phone call hearing screams before they were executed.

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Although it's not yet known what motivated the killings, but Chihuahua and Sonora state governments issued a joint statement saying a full-scale investigation had been launched.

Claudia Pavlovich Arellano, the governor of Sonora, said on Twitter that as a mother she was filled with deep pain by "the cowardly acts."

"I don't know what kind of monsters dare to hurt women and children," she wrote.

Senator for Sonora, Lilly Téllez, tweeted: "The massacre in Sonora cannot go unpunished."

In the first half of 2019, there were a staggering 17,608 gangland murders in Mexico- with 94 people being killed every single day.

Last year saw a total of 33,341, making it the bloodiest year on record, but this year is set to be the most violent of all time.

In recent years, large cartels have splintered into smaller factions who then battle for previously shared turf, escalating the violence, and prompting kidnaps and torture.

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