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May 5, 2008
Mexico Cites Reprisals in Killings of 9 Officers
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
MEXICO CITY — In what appears to be a bloody counteroffensive by drug cartels responding to a government crackdown, nine federal police officers, including the chief of the organized crime division, have been killed in the past three weeks.

The brazen killings demonstrated not only the inability of the federal police to protect their own from hit-and-run attacks, but also that the antidrug offensive that President Felipe Calderón began last year still faced powerful resistance.

“These are difficult times for the federal police and for Mexico,â€