18 killed in Mexico drug shootout

September 25th, 2009 Mexico Police arrest 5 in drug rehab executionsCIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Police have arrested five men accused of dozens of murders, including two mass killings at drug treatment centers in this northern Mexico border city. Police say the men were members of the Sinaloa cartel, a violent gang entrenched in a brutal turf war for control of drug routes to the United States.

September 4th, 2009 Police arrest Mexican mayor suspected of drug tiesMORELIA, Mexico — Federal police detained a small-town mayor on Friday on suspicion of aiding drug traffickers in the same western Mexico state where eight other city chiefs have been arrested since May on similar charges. Armando Medina, the 49-year-old mayor of Mugica in Michoacan state, was taken into custody at city hall.

August 30th, 2009 Defense lawyer for Mexican drug kingpin killedTOLUCA, Mexico — A lawyer for a convicted Mexican drug kingpin was found stabbed to death in his home, authorities said Saturday. Americo Delgado was the second Mexican defense attorney for high-profile drug suspects killed in less than a month.

August 29th, 2009 Gunmen kill 5 police in shootout in western MexicoMEXICO CITY — A convoy of gunmen engaged state police in a running shootout Friday that killed five officers and possibly one of the attackers in the western Mexico state of Jalisco, authorities said. The state attorney general's office said the gunbattle began when a convoy of seven vehicles carrying at least 30 gunmen approached state policemen on a local highway.

August 10th, 2009 Defense lawyer for Mexican underworld killedMEXICO CITY —A Mexican lawyer known for defending high-profile drug trafficking suspects was shot to death Sunday at a street market in the northern city of Monterrey. A Monterrey police official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said lawyer Silvia Raquenel Villanueva was killed by gunfire.

August 10th, 2009 Obama says drug cartels violate human rightsGUADALAJARA, Mexico —President Barack Obama says drug cartels are the largest violators of human rights in Mexico and he has confidence Mexican President Felipe Calderon is cracking down without violating human rights. Obama on Monday, however, did not say whether his State Department would certify that Mexico is protecting human rights in its efforts to fight the drug traders.

July 23rd, 2009 IMPHAL - A militant and a woman passerby were killed in a shootout at a crowded marketplace in the heart of the Manipur capital Thursday morning. Two civilians were also injured when an unidentified militant armed with an automatic weapon was chased by a security team in the market area around 11 a.m, police said.

July 2nd, 2009 At least 14 bodies found in Mexico mass graveMEXICO CITY — Police said Wednesday that they have uncovered a mass grave in central Mexico with the remains of 14 or 15 people believed to have been executed by the Zetas drug gang. The remains found in Guanajuato state were so badly burned that officials were not immediately able to identify the number of victims, and it may be difficult to identify the dead.

June 26th, 2009 12 killed in shootout in central MexicoMEXICO CITY — A shootout between police and suspected cartel hit men in central Mexico Friday left at least 12 people dead and one police officer wounded, officials said. Guanajuato state Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa said police and soldiers were checking a report of armed men at a building in the town of Apaseo el Alto when assailants opened fire and lobbed grenades at them.

June 24th, 2009 Undercover Houston police officer, suspect killedHOUSTON — Police in Houston say one of their undercover officers and a suspect have been killed in a shootout. The officer was investigating sales of stolen TVs when he met a group of suspects in a drug store parking lot Tuesday night.

May 8th, 2009 Mexico: 3 missing women killed by traffickersTIJUANA, Mexico — Mexican police say three women who disappeared in the border city of Tijuana were killed by drug traffickers who dissolved their bodies in a caustic substance. Baja California state investigator Miguel Guerrero says the women — aged 23 to 25 — have been missing since August after they traveled from Mexicali to Tijuana, across from San Diego.

April 20th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - Eight law enforcement officials, including two federal police officers and two prison guards, were killed in an attack on a police convoy in western Mexico, authorities said Sunday. According to the public safety secretariat, the assailants opened fired Saturday on the police convoy transporting an important drug suspect to a prison in the coastal state of Nayarit.

April 16th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - At least 13 people have been killed in a gunbattle between the military and suspected drug traffickers in southern Mexican state of Guerrero, authorities said Thursday. The clash occurred Wednesday in San Nicolas del Oro, a town near the city of San Miguel Totolapan, during an operation by the security forces in the remote area, Guerrero's Public Security Minister Juan Heriberto Salinas Altes said.

January 23rd, 2009 MEXICO CITY - The Mexican Army has arrested a drug suspect who claimed to have dissolved 300 corpses of other drug criminals with corrosive chemicals over the past 10 years. Santiago Meza Lopez, 45, confessed to having disposed of rivals for drug kingpin Teodoro Garcia Simental, the defence ministry said in a statement Friday.

December 30th, 2008 MEXICO CITY - Mexico will introduce harsher punishments to take on the country's organised drug cartels as well as government officials having links with the underworld, officials said. The Secretariat of National Defence (SEDENA), responsible for the country's security, has proposed to increase prison term up to 60 years, for former or serving officers in the army and the police accused of links with the underworld.