Mexico

Drug-related attacks leave 16 dead

Article published on the 2008-10-07 Latest update 2008-10-07 13:55 TU

The casualty of a drug-related shootout in Mexico on September 28.
(Credit: Reuters)

Suspected drug-related attacks in the Mexican northern border state of Chiuhuahua have left 16 people dead, including a housewife, in a 24-hour long rampage by rival drug cartels. Eight men died in attacks on Sunday and Monday, and the 30-year-old woman died in a separate attack on Sunday, among the 40 people killed this month in escalating violence across the country.

"They killed him like a dog," Eloisa Margarita Espinosa Morales, the wife of Agustin Alfaro, who was killed in the attack told Mexican newspaper La Jornada. Her husband and father of two was a chauffeur.

Police blame the deaths on a war between the Juarez cartel, the Sinaloa cartel, and another group, made up of those who broke away from the two other cartels. The criminal gangs are battling over drug routes into the US.

Nearly 3,500 people have died over the past year in increasing drug violence, despite increased efforts on drug-related violence.