http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/storie ... 7-04-15-33
Feb 7, 4:15 AM EST

Gunmen attack newspaper in Mexican border city, wounding reporter

By JORGE VARGAS
Associated Press Writer

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (AP) -- At least four unidentified assailants fired a hail of bullets from assault rifles and tossed a grenade into a building housing a newspaper in the violence-wracked border city of Nuevo Laredo on Monday, wounding one reporter seriously.

The masked gunmen attacked close to 8 p.m., firing as they entered the building and then charging to the newsroom, where they sprayed the walls with bullets and sent about 30 people scrambling for cover, witnesses said.

Reporter Jaime Orozco Tey of the daily newspaper El Manana was wounded in the attack and was in serious condition at a local hospital.

Reporter Osvaldo Rodriguez, was injured by flying glass and possibly shrapnel from the grenade, the Laredo Morning Times reported for its Tuesday edition. Rodriguez was treated by paramedics at the scene.

Bullet holes were left in the walls of the office building and glass was shattered; Ramon Cantu, director of the El Manana and an afternoon newspaper, La Tarde, said the offices' reception area was practically destroyed.

"We are very concerned about our colleague Jaime Orozco," Cantu told reporters at the newspaper's offices. He said he was surprised by the attack, given that the paper had not received any threats "lately."

Violence and fear have become commonplace for reporters in northern Mexico, and especially border cities like Nuevo Laredo, which has been plagued in recent years by a bloody turf war between drug gangs.

Cantu said the paper would keep on publishing.

"We're already sweeping up our house and we're ready to bring out tomorrow's edition. We are ready to carry on our duty," he said.

Police in Nuevo Laredo - across the border from Laredo, Texas - confirmed the attack, though they provided no immediate information on a possible motive.

Fortunately for the paper, Monday was a holiday - celebrating the country's Constitution - and fewer reporters than usual were on duty.

The gunmen began shooting in the reception area, and employees alerted by the shots ran for cover in the printing area.

The floor of the reception area was littered with empty shell casings.

A witness on the street outside the building said the gunmen had arrived in a red compact car before attacking the newspaper offices.

In January, two reporters with El Manana were caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival gangs.

Last year, seven reporters were killed in Mexico, and one disappeared.

Nuevo Laredo newspaper editors say they have been omitting the names of some victims of violence after drug traffickers have called and threatened reporters if the names are published. Sometimes, they add, they simply don't run the story.

Nuevo Laredo has been in the front lines of a bloody battle between Mexico's top drug cartels fighting for control of its billion-dollar smuggling routes into the United States.

So far this year, almost one person every day has been murdered in the city of 300,000. All but a few of the killings appear to have been related to drug violence.