According to the El Universal newspaper, the soldiers were trying to deactivate the device when it exploded.

The blast happened late on Tuesday in Buenavista in Michoacan, the state prosecutor's office said.

A military source who did not want to be named said that troops were looking for similar devices believed to have been planted in the area.

On Monday, a blast caused by another improvised landmine killed two Mexican soldiers and wounded five others in the same region.

The device was suspected to have been planted by members of a local criminal group waging a turf war with a bigger drug cartel, Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla said Tuesday.

Six other soldiers had been killed by similar improvised devices since late 2018, he said.

Mexico is plagued by widespread drug-related violence that has seen more than 450,000 people killed since the government deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.