Transcript of Inside the Mexican city ravaged by the fight for control of the Sinaloa cartel

A heavily armed column of state police rumbles through the streets of Culiacán in western Mexico. They're providing extra security around the latest crime scene here. This type of weaponry and armor is the stuff you see in wars. In many ways, that's exactly what is happening here, a battle between two factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the most powerful gangs in Mexico, and they're at each other's throats. On a dirt road lie the bodies of two men. They were found at daybreak. Why they were killed isn't known, but people are being murdered across Culiacán every day as this gang war intensifies.

A lot of the crime scenes the authorities tell us have a message being sent. In this instance, the two bodies have been children's toys on top of them, and they're wrapped in blankets. They don't know what that message is, but that is a crime scene as left by the killers. The authorities have had nothing to do with this whatsoever. All the indicators are, and everyone here believes, and the crime gang themselves tell us that the war between the two factions is only just getting underway.

These women, clearly upset, have come to the scene. The dead still haven't been identified. The police say they could be family or they could have missing relatives, and they've come to see if it's This level of violence hasn't been seen for years. When it flares up, everyone across this city, this state, and further afield is affected.

Whenever there are high impact violent events and they are generalized in the city or in different parts of the state, it's very possible there will be social and economic impacts because business is closed, people can't go out. It impacts Forensic's officers painstakingly assess the scene of the crime and inspect the bodies as they try to ascertain how they were killed.

Eventually, The bodies are zipped into bags and taken away. Two more murder investigations added to a growing list. The streets of Culiacán are virtually deserted. These are main roads in the center of a big city. People are too scared to go out. It's as simple as that. Locals say it's quieter now than even at the height of the COVID pandemic. In reality, gang wars are far more lethal. Across the city, in their safe houses, gang members plan their next murders. These are two senior sicarios, hipmen, who run a base for hitmen. They warn this war is only just starting.

One of the two has to prevail. They are attracting large numbers. The government is sending soldiers. This is just the beginning. It's going to be long. We don't know how long. One year, two years, three years, maybe. It will go on for a long time.

This is a war over the future of the Sinaloa cartel, and both factions, the Chapo and Mayo, crime families, except it'll only end when there is a clear winner.

It's just getting started. One of the parties has to die for it to end. One of either side has to die. There has to be a winner.

Another crime scene, two cartel lookouts on motorbikes, keep their eyes on the movements of military and police. The gangs are fighting each other, but the security forces can get caught in the middle. A military convoy was engaged by a convoy of cartel men traveling through town. They abandoned one of their armored vehicles riddled with bullets. A short distance away, a soldier was killed. His weapons visible on the road where he died. Another murder scene and another forensic investigation, documenting a cycle of violence with no obvious end in sight. Stuart Ramsey, Sky News, Culican, Sinaloa.