6 bodies found in burning car in Mexico

The Associated Press
3:25 p.m. September 15, 2009

TIJUANA, Mexico — Firefighters found six bodies inside a burning car in a Mexican border city besieged by drug violence, police said Tuesday.

Four bodies were found in the compact car's seats and two in the trunk in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, according to a police report.
The victims' identities and the motive for killings were not released, but the Mexican city is on a major route for drugs heading north and has recently seen a wave of violence between warring gangs.

In the northern state of Zacatecas, which has seen the increasing presence of the Gulf Cartel in recent years, a convoy of gunmen opened fire on two government vehicles that were heading to an event to pick up state Gov. Amalia Garcia, her office said in a statement.

The governor – a member of the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party – was not in the vehicles. It was not clear if she was the target.

Two government employees suffered slight injuries in the attack and a third disappeared. Police do not know if the missing state worker fled or was kidnapped.

The government blamed organized crime for the attack but said it had not identified the gang yet.

Zacatecas is a largely rural state that has seen a rise in cartel activity. On May 16, 53 inmates escaped from a prison with the alleged complicity of guards. The Zetas, a gang of hit men tied to the Gulf cartel, supposedly participated in that jail break.

In Ciudad Juarez, officials held a ceremony for 1,200 Mexican army soldiers who were being withdrawn from the border city. The troops were part of a contingent sent there earlier this year to fight crime while the city trained more police officers.

Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, is Mexico's deadliest city with more than 1,300 killings so far this year.

The military has trained 1,027 police officers for the city, which is in the midst of an intense turf battle between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels.

The Ciudad Juarez police force now has about 3,025 officers, about a third larger than the force's previous size. Officials had set a goal of having 3,000 city officers.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 45,000 troops to drug hotspots since taking office in 2006.

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