44 Bodies Found In Tijuana Since Sunday

Body count continues to rise in gang war

Jose Luis Jimenez and Greg Gross
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

5:31 p.m. October 3, 2008

The bloody turf war among Tijuana's drug traffickers claimed eight more lives Friday, and two of the victims had been decapitated.
Officials say the men were the latest casualties in an ongoing battle among organized criminal gangs. In all, 44 bodies have been found in Tijuana since Sunday.

The bodies of five men were discovered about 3:30 a.m. Friday in the Buena Vista neighborhood near Calle Juan Ojeda Robles, said a spokeswoman with the Baja California Attorney General's office. Their faces were covered with gray tape and their hands and feet were bound, she said. There was no note accompanying the bodies, as there was in the previous killings.

About five hours later, the bodies of two men were found in colonia Guadalupe Victoria on Venustiano Carranza. One was believed to be 35 to 40 years old; the other 50 to 55. Both had been decapitated and a message had been left on the bodies on a piece of cardboard.

According to Mexican press reports, the message read, “These are your people, M4. You're next.â€