Mexico

Thirty-five killed in drug-related violence, Cancun police chief arrested

Article published on the 2009-02-11 Latest update 2009-03-26 15:08 TU

Soldiers outside Cancun's municipal police headquarters in Mexico's state of Quintana Roo.
(Photo: Reuters)

Thirty-five people have been killed throughout northern Mexico in various drug-related incidents, including a shoot-out in Chihuahua Tuesday and a prison break-out Monday. In Cancun, the army detained detained the police chief and 36 other law officers.

In the northern state of Chihuahua, 21 people were killed in a standoff between a gang and the army, after gang members had kidnapped nine people. Six of the hostages were executed before the military returned fire and killed 14 of the gang members in Villa Ahumada, 130 kilometres south of Ciudad Juarez. One soldier was fatally wounded.

Elsewhere in Chihuahua, ten people were killed in drug-related fighting, including a man who had been transported to hospital by the Red Cross.

Ciudad Juarez has become the murder capital of Mexico, with 220 people killed since the beginning of the year, due to an ongoing turf war between rival drug cartels.

In an isolated incident in Baja California, a pilot was killed in an execution-style murder. It is thought his murder was linked to drug-trafficking and he was targeted due to the nature of his flights.

And a group of armed men stormed the Torreon prison late Monday, where they killed three prisoners and freed nine others.

Over 5,000 people died in Mexico last year in drug-related violence, despite pressure from the government and the deployment of more than 30,000 members of security forces.

In other developments in the country, the army detained the police chief and 36 other officers of the law in Cancun early on Monday.

Soldiers stormed police headquarters and arrested Chief Francisco Velasco in connection with the murder of an ex-army general last week.

The former general Mauro Enrique Tello, who was leading a new force against drug cartels in the area, was tortured and shot by suspected traffickers.