MEXICO CITY — Some 53 people have been killed and 51 others are missing in Mexico ’s western Sinaloa state since rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel began clashing on Sept 9, local authorities said on Friday, with gruesome violence showing no signs of abating.

U.S. intelligence analysts suggest the conflict could last for years. The Drug Enforcement Administration reports the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have a presence in all 50 U.S. states, controlling global networks that dominate the fentanyl and methamphetamine trade.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has blamed the United States in part for the surge in cartel violence terrorizing the northern state of Sinaloa which has left at least 30 people dead in the past week.

The U.S. ambassador to Mexico on Saturday rejected President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's claims that the U.S. was "co-responsible" for violence in the western state of Sinaloa, where more than 50 people have died in an intra-cartel war this month.

At least 30 people have been killed in the past two weeks in Mexico’s northern state of Sinaloa as two factions of the powerful Sinaloa cartel continue to clash.

"Yes, of course... for having carried out this operation," the president said when asked if the American government was "jointly responsible" for the situation

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has accused the United States of escalating cartel violence in Sinaloa following the capture of Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada. Clashes between cartel factions terrorize Culiacan,

Two warring factions of the Sinaloa cartel appear to be fighting for power since two of its leaders were arrested in the U.S.

Mexican leader says the U.S. bore some responsibility "for having carried out that operation" to arrest Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada.