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<span style="font-weight: bold">Mexico drug-related violence claims 27 lives in one day</span>
(AFP) – 5 hours ago
MORELIA, Mexico — Drug-related violence in Mexico Monday claimed 27 lives, including 10 police officers killed in an ambush in western Michoacan state, and 17 inmates slain in prison violence in northwestern Sinaloa state, officials said.
Monday's early morning ambush took place in the western town of Zitacuaro as a column of uniformed police was heading by car to Mexico City. Ten police officers and several assailants were killed in the shootout, Michoacan's Public Security Ministry said.
After the attack, soldiers and police launched a manhunt for the surviving attackers, who remain at large, the ministry said.
Police said the attackers removed their dead and wounded from the scene before fleeing. They did not link the shooting to any drug cartel in the region.
However, Michoacan is the headquarters for the notorious "La Familia" cartel, known as one of Mexico's deadliest drug-trafficking organizations, which has a history of violent confrontations with the federal police.
"La Familia," which is said to be the top producer of synthetic drugs in Mexico, unleashed a similar bloody assault against police last July that led to the deaths of 16 officers.
In another recent attack, the drug cartel kidnapped 12 federal police officers, decapitated them and dumped their bodies on a busy highway.
Michoacan is President Felipe Calderon's home state, from where he launched a nationwide crackdown against drug-trafficking, deploying some 50,000 troops and police across Mexico, in December 2006.
In the northwestern city of Mazatlan, meanwhile, 17 inmates were killed Monday in prison violence, according to a source in the Sinaloa state prosecutors' office.
"We have 17 dead, as well as two state police injured," said the source, speaking privately.
It was not immediately clear if there was a riot or another type of assault, the source said.
However, local press reports said around 20 of the inmates at the Mazatlan penitentiary are members of the notorious Los Zetas drug cartel, headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the most wanted drug trafficker most by the United States.
The reports said the 20 Zetas inmates recently demanded to be transferred out of the prison.
Sinaloa Governor Jesus Aguilar last week warned about serious overcrowding at the Mazatlan jail, where he said 6,000 inmates are presently crammed.
Monday's spike in violence mirrors Friday's bloody carnage, when 39 people were killed by gunmen across Mexico, including 19 in a drug rehabilitation center in northern Chihuahua, and 20 in separate shootings in northeastern Tamaulipas.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Mexico has been living an unprecedented climate of violence as powerful drug cartels vie for rich drug trafficking routes into the United States. Nearly 23,000 people have been killed in the country since Uribe's crackdown began in 2006.</span>
(AFP) – 5 hours ago
MORELIA, Mexico — Drug-related violence in Mexico Monday claimed 27 lives, including 10 police officers killed in an ambush in western Michoacan state, and 17 inmates slain in prison violence in northwestern Sinaloa state, officials said.
Monday's early morning ambush took place in the western town of Zitacuaro as a column of uniformed police was heading by car to Mexico City. Ten police officers and several assailants were killed in the shootout, Michoacan's Public Security Ministry said.
After the attack, soldiers and police launched a manhunt for the surviving attackers, who remain at large, the ministry said.
Police said the attackers removed their dead and wounded from the scene before fleeing. They did not link the shooting to any drug cartel in the region.
However, Michoacan is the headquarters for the notorious "La Familia" cartel, known as one of Mexico's deadliest drug-trafficking organizations, which has a history of violent confrontations with the federal police.
"La Familia," which is said to be the top producer of synthetic drugs in Mexico, unleashed a similar bloody assault against police last July that led to the deaths of 16 officers.
In another recent attack, the drug cartel kidnapped 12 federal police officers, decapitated them and dumped their bodies on a busy highway.
Michoacan is President Felipe Calderon's home state, from where he launched a nationwide crackdown against drug-trafficking, deploying some 50,000 troops and police across Mexico, in December 2006.
In the northwestern city of Mazatlan, meanwhile, 17 inmates were killed Monday in prison violence, according to a source in the Sinaloa state prosecutors' office.
"We have 17 dead, as well as two state police injured," said the source, speaking privately.
It was not immediately clear if there was a riot or another type of assault, the source said.
However, local press reports said around 20 of the inmates at the Mazatlan penitentiary are members of the notorious Los Zetas drug cartel, headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the most wanted drug trafficker most by the United States.
The reports said the 20 Zetas inmates recently demanded to be transferred out of the prison.
Sinaloa Governor Jesus Aguilar last week warned about serious overcrowding at the Mazatlan jail, where he said 6,000 inmates are presently crammed.
Monday's spike in violence mirrors Friday's bloody carnage, when 39 people were killed by gunmen across Mexico, including 19 in a drug rehabilitation center in northern Chihuahua, and 20 in separate shootings in northeastern Tamaulipas.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Mexico has been living an unprecedented climate of violence as powerful drug cartels vie for rich drug trafficking routes into the United States. Nearly 23,000 people have been killed in the country since Uribe's crackdown began in 2006.</span>
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