Mexico Under Siege
Heads, bodies of 9 decapitated men dumped in Mexico

The remains were found at separate places in the state of Guerrero, a hot spot in the country's drug war. Local media are saying the victims may be Mexican soldiers.

By Ken Ellingwood
10:33 AM PST, December 21, 2008

REPORTING FROM MEXICO CITY -- Nine men were decapitated and dumped at separate sites in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, authorities said today.

Mexican news outlets reported that the men appeared to be Mexican soldiers because the heads bore close-cropped hair. But state officials said they had not determined the victims' identities.


"So far we can't confirm that the subjects belong to any security force or the army," said an official in Guerrero's public-safety department. The official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

Heads and bodies were discovered today in the city of Chilpancingo, the state capital. The heads were bundled in a plastic bag and dumped at a shopping center, while the bodies turned up in two other sites at opposite ends of the city, authorities said.

The find came two days after three gunmen in Guerrero died in a shootout with soldiers. Mexican media said the beheadings may have been intended as retribution.


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The website of the daily El Universal newspaper, citing unnamed state law-enforcement officials, reported that a message that accompanied the bag of heads warned: "For every one of mine you kill, I'm going to kill 10 of yours."

Beheadings have become increasingly common around Mexico amid rising drug-related violence that has killed more than 5,300 people this year.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown against drug traffickers two years ago, triggering clashes between security forces and gunmen and vicious feuding among rival drug gangs.

The coastal state of Guerrero, home to the Acapulco resort, has been one of the drug war's more violent corners. Nearly 500 people have been killed there since January 2007, soon after Calderon announced his anti-crime offensive, according to a tally by the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute.

As part of his crackdown, Calderon has sent 45,000 soldiers and 5,000 federal police into the streets. The offensive has produced thousands of arrests and some major seizures of drugs, cash and weapons, though there is no sign yet that any of the country's main drug gangs have been dislodged.

Most of the killings have resulted from turf wars among drug-trafficking organizations, which battle for the most coveted routes for smuggling drugs into the United States.

ken.ellingwood@latimes.com

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