A top Mexican security official claims that the strategy to reduce extreme violence in neighboring Sonora and elsewhere is bearing fruit.

Mexico’s Defense Secretary General Luis Cresencio Sandoval said that all but one of nine states with so-called priority municipalities experiencing serious violence have shown a downward trend in violence since mid-August. In Sonora, that’s when roughly 500 soldiers were sent to hotspots in the state, including Ciudad Obregon and Guaymas.

Since then, murders linked to organized crime have fallen 13% in Sonora, according to Sandoval.

Federal data show that monthly murder victims have been lower on average in the three months since August than the three before, though Sonora has already blown past last year’s record-setting murder toll.