Mexico City - Ten alleged drug traffickers died in a shootout near the community of El Rosario, in the north-western Mexican state of Sinaloa, police said Thursday.

The dead, who carried AK-47 rifles and handguns, apparently clashed with a rival gang late Wednesday some 80 kilometres south of the Pacific beach resort of Mazatlan amid a wave of organized-crime violence that has left some 5,400 people dead in Mexico so far this year.

According to Sinaloa state media reports, nine people died at the site of the shooting, while a survivor died later, as he was being taken to hospital in an ambulance.

Police seized nine long weapons and eight handguns, and also collected from the scene some 200 bullet shells.

There have been more than 1,000 deaths in incidents linked to organized crime in Sinaloa this year. Last week, 13 dead bodies were found by an abandoned truck in the municipality of San Ignacio, while five people died Tuesday in a shootout in state capital Culiacan. (dpa)