CIUDAD JUAREZ - Four men suspected of committing 211 murders in northern Mexico have been arrested, authorities said.

The killings occurred in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico’s most violent city, where the Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels have been waging a turf war.

Cristian Enrique Franco Franco, 22, charged with killing 16 people, Edgar Flores Martinez, 30, who faces 87 murder counts, and Omar Castro Rivera, 28, who is suspected of killing 93 people, were arrested by the security forces.

The investigation also resulted in the arrest of Hector Armando Alcibar Wong, 21, in connection with 15 killings, officials said.

The suspects have confessed to several multiple killings, including the Jan 25, 2009, murders of five motorcyclists who were gunned down “because they all belonged to the Doble A”, a rival gang, the Joint Operation Chihuahua office said.

The gunmen also allegedly carried out the attack on the Las Palmas Motel, which left five people dead and a woman wounded.

The suspects told investigators they killed the five people at the motel because “they heard that the group was going to kill members of the cell they belonged to”, officials said.

The Joint Operation Chihuahua office, which did not provide details on the arrests, said the gunmen were captured thanks to intelligence work.

Some 1,400 people have been murdered so far this year in Juarez, located across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, as gunmen working for rival drug cartels battle to gain control of the routes used for smuggling cocaine, marijuana, heroin and other drugs into the US.

In 2008, Juarez earned the dubious distinction of being Mexico’s most violent city, living through days when dozens of people were murdered in the span of a few hours, and armed groups committed acts of violence in public areas that terrorised residents.

The border city of 1.5 million people ended 2008 with a total of 1,605 people murdered, according to press tallies, including 77 federal, state and municipal police officers.

Most of the victims of the gunmen, who belonged to the “La Linea” gang, were involved in “the sale of drugs, extortion, kidnappings, vehicle theft and violent robberies of local businesses, according to information provided” by the suspects, the Joint Operation Chihuahua office said.

–EFE