Terrifying moment cartel gunmen ambush Mexican town's self-defense group as they show reporters around front line of battle against drug gangs

A pair of Mexican journalists recorded the moment they came under fire in a terrifying ambush by drug cartel gunmen while they reported on the work of a small town's self-defense force.

Televisa reporters Marco Antonio Coronel and Fernando Guillén had traveled to Tepalcatepec, Michoacán, to document how an auto-defense group has been combating the Jalisco New Generation Cartel

They were transiting through a remote road  when cartel gunmen opened fire from an abandoned building.

Coronel and Guillén were sitting on the flatbed of a pickup truck that was converted into a makeshift armored vehicle as the cartel assaulted the auto-defense group's convoy.

The self-appointed Tepalcatepec Auto-defense group is made up of local residents who have taken up arms against the region's vicious cartels.

The residents were seen returning fire through small holes cut in the sides of the makeshift armored car as the reporters desperately took cover.

Televisa journalist Marco Coronel ducks inside an armored truck as members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel launched an attack on a convoy of auto-defense fighters in the western state of Michoacán on Wednesday

The residents were seen returning fire through small holes cut in the sides of the makeshift armored car as the reporters desperately took cover 

A drone provided aerial footage of an abandoned building where the Jalisco New Generation Cartel often unleashes its attacks against auto-defense group members in La Bocanda, an area near Tepalcatepec, Michoacán that is under the control of the criminal organization

One of the men is seen ducking when a bullet entered the vehicle.

Moments later, the reporter's phone captured the moment a bullet pierced through the metal covering and grazed one of the auto-defense fighters.

Coronel and Guillen, who were not injured in the attack, were in La Bocanda, an area located between the municipalities of Aguililla y Tepalcatepec.

The area had fallen under control of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, considered by crime experts as one of the three most powerful drug cartels in Mexico. 

A man reaches out for a drone that was used by reporters from Mexican network Televisa to record footage for a story on the Jalisco New Generation Cartel's attacks that have driven residents away from La Bocanda, an area located between the municipalities of Aguililla y Tepalcatepec in the western state of Michoacán

Aerial view of La Bocanda, a rural zone located between the municipalities of Aguililla y Tepalcatepec in the western state of Michoacán, that for the most part is under the influence of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel

As part of their project for Televisa's nightly news show 'En Punto' 'On Point', the reporters deployed a drone which hovered over a building in La Bocanda where the cartel members had taken refuge.

'The #CártelJaliscoNuevaGeneración Jalisco New Generation converted  La Bocanda, Michoacán, in its operation base. The community is a war zone,' Coronel tweeted Thursday. 'We traveled there with the help of the #Autodefensas Auto-defense to capture the impact population and we were ambushed.' 

Coronel said that he and Guillen were unharmed during the incident. 

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel has imposed its presence in rural and big cities across 30 of Mexico's 32 states. 

Over the last year the criminal organization has slowly has also established itself in the capital, Mexico City. 

The cartel is led by Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera', whose two oldest American-born children are in custody of United States authorities on drug and money laundering charges,

He is wanted by the DEA, which is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.