World | Other World Stories
Gunmen kill police chief in Mexican border city
Gunmen have killed the police administrative director in the violent Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, the latest high-profile killing in Mexico's drug war, police said on Wednesday.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:08 June 20, 2008
Ciudad Juarez: Gunmen have killed the police administrative director in the violent Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, the latest high-profile killing in Mexico's drug war, police said on Wednesday.
Silvia Molina was shot outside her house by suspected drug hitmen, the first public official in Ciudad Juarez's city police force to be targeted.
"She was shot ten times as she was parking her car," a police spokesman said. Molina's body was found with a message signed by suspected drug hitmen who said they were working for Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.
Molina's administrative team and the director of the city police academy resigned on Tuesday in protest at her murder, temporarily leaving the city police force without officials to pay salaries.
Drug killings
About 460 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez this year - the greatest concentration of drug killings in the country. Guzman's drug gangs from northwestern Sinaloa state are battling the local Juarez cartel for control of smuggling routes to the United States. Ciudad Juarez is across the border from El Paso, Texas.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in drug violence across Mexico this year, a much faster pace than in 2007, as an army-led crackdown increases pressure on rival drug gangs fighting for dominance.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed some 25,000 troops and federal police to combat the cartels since taking office in December 2006, but his campaign has not curbed violence.
More from Other World Stories
More from World
News Editor's choice
-
Allies quit ruling coalition in Nepal
Political row could trigger months of street protests and violence
-
Qatar blaze 'started at nursery'
Fire killed 19 including 13 children, at Doha’s main shopping centre
-
Jagan jailed over illegal assets
Andhra Pradesh leader accused of corruption, cheating, conspiracy
