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. Ambassador Ken Salazar rejected accusations by Mexico’s president that the U.S. was partly responsible for a surge in cartel warfare in northern Sinaloa over the weekend.

The most recent deaths come nearly two months after officials arrested Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in the United States. His arrest reportedly sparked infighting within the Sinaloa Cartel’s two factions: Los Chapitos spearheaded by co-founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera and La Mayiza led by Zambada.

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.

Shootouts in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa have kindled fears that an intra-cartel war is about to break out in the wake of the arrest of legendary trafficker, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, in July.

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, authorities said Tuesday. Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said that two military personnel were among those killed in the fighting that started Sept.