7 killed in Mexican Independence Day attack
By JULIE WATSON – 3 hours ago

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican governor said Tuesday that organized crime was responsible for explosions at an Independence Day celebration that killed at least seven people and injured 101 in the colonial city of Morelia.

The attack happened just as Gov. Leonel Godoy was delivering the traditional "grito," or shout for independence, in Morelia's main plaza, where thousands had gathered to celebrate.

Godoy said that based on witness accounts and because of the damage and death toll, authorities believe someone launched several grenades into the crowd.

"Without a doubt, we believe this was done by organized crime," he told Mexico's Televisa network.

Godoy is governor of Michoacan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon and a hotbed for drug trafficking.

Calderon, who has already sent thousands of soldiers to the state, said the attack demands an immediate response by the armed forces. He also went on national TV to demand that Mexicans help in anyway possible to combat crime, and asked people to provide any information linked to the attack.

"The country demands national unity, unity that requires our unanimous repudiation," the president said.

Mexico's drug cartels and criminal networks have been slaying their rivals in increasingly large numbers and publicly dumping beheaded corpses as expressions of their power and impunity.

But this attack is one of the boldest yet, targeting "the grito," a cherished Mexican tradition that millions together in public plazas each year. It also cast a pall over the Sept. 16 parades planned for cities and towns across the nation to celebrate the 1810 start of Mexico's 10-year war of independence from Spain.

Godoy said he cancelled Morelia's Independence Day parade, "because there are children, women and innocent people who have been hurt."

The attack comes only days after 24 bodies were found bound and killed execution-style in a rural area outside Mexico City in one of the largest massacres in recent history.

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