15 People Killed in Mexico Carnival of Violence
 Agence France-Presse
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| | File photo shows a sign reading "We come to help you", referring to a Mexican Army reinforcement operation, in Ciudad Juarez, state of Chihuahua, north Mexico. Police said 15 people were killed Wednesday in northern Chihuahua state, including four men found dead in an empty lot in Ciudad Juarez, near the US border, where drug cartels are waging a bloody turf war. (AFP/Alfredo Estrella) | | |
Ciudad Juarez - Police said 15 people were killed Wednesday in northern Chihuahua state, including four men found dead in an empty lot in Ciudad Juarez, near the US border, where drug cartels are waging a bloody turf war.
The four victims had been shot to the head execution-style, and their bodies showed signs of torture, local police said.
Four suspected hitmen were killed in a shootout with police also in Ciudad Juarez, where another body of a 25-year-old man apparently tortured to death was afound late Wednesday, police added.
Also among the victims were two minors were found shot to death in Moris, in southeastern Chihuahua state, as well as two men, ages 21 and 24, killed outside their homes in Casas Grances.
Violence has escalated throughout Mexico since President Felipe Calderon, who took office at the end of 2006, launched a military crackdown on drug trafficking.
Ciudad Juarez - across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas - has the highest murder toll of the country this year, with some 858 killed, according to an AFP count.
The Juarez drug cartel is fighting a turf war for control of Chihuahua state and its key drug routes to the United States with the Sinaloa cartel, from the neighboring state further south.
Drug-related violence throughout Mexico has killed some 2,700 people since the start of the year - 27 more than in all of 2007.
Federal authorities have deployed more than 36,000 soldiers across the country since early 2007, including 2,500 in Ciudad Juarez, as part of efforts to combat drug trafficking and related violence. |
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News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2008 
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