One murdered candidate, others threatened, bodyguards assigned to gubernatorial wannabes and calls for a boycott: The June election campaign in Mexico's Wild West is off to a rough start.

The June 7 mid-term vote for federal and state seats will be the first major ballot test for President Enrique Pena Nieto, almost half-way through his six-year term.

Gunmen forced down a military helicopter in western Mexico on Friday, killing three troops as violence escalated across Jalisco state during a new operation against a powerful drug cartel.

Seven people were killed across Jalisco, including the three soldiers and a state police officer, while 19 people were wounded, officials said. Three gang suspects were killed in the fighting, authorities said.

Bare-breasted activists from the Femen feminist movement briefly disrupted an anti-abortion march in Madrid Sunday, as thousands urged the government to ban the terminating of pregnancies in Spain.

Five young women with messages such as "Abortion is sacred" daubed in black on their chests charged yelling at demonstrators who wore red T-shirts with the slogan "Right to life" as they marched in the cold and rain.

Colombia-born Mexican author Fernando Vallejo was awarded the 2011 prize Monday at the Guadalajara International Book Fair, the biggest Spanish-language literary event, organizers said.

The 68-year-old Vallejo is best known for "Our Lady of the Assassins", which was made into a feature film by French director Barbet Schroeder in 2000.