Fifteen people have been shot dead at a borderline Mexico ranch by suspected drug gangs operating across the border from the US, local media reported.

According to a Sonora state official, the bodies have been recovered from a truck in the northern border areas, where Mexico's notorious drug cartels reportedly force farmers into cultivating cannabis plants used for opium production.

The body of a prominent leader of the local farmers, Margarito Montes Parra, was among those recovered.

The farmers have apparently attempted to evade suspected criminal gangs' orders and sought to flee the ruthless cartel gangsters, who sprayed them with bullet at close range, the official added.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the slaughter.

Recently, Mexico's drug-related violence has been on the rise despite President Felipe Calderon's deployment of the country's army to uproot the international drug cartels.

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