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News

Several children among 13 killed in Mexican drug war

AFP

Thursday, February 25, 2010



OAXACA, Mexico (AFP) - Gunmen stormed a rural town in southern Mexico and killed 13 people, including several children and five police, local authorities said yesterday.

Around 20 men armed with assault rifles drove into the town of Acatlan de Perez Figueroa at around midnight Tuesday and targeted several properties of locally-known families, including a ranch, said mayor Nicolas Villalva Arguello.

Two adults, several ranch workers and children died in the attack, and five police officers were killed in a subsequent shootout, Villalva said.

The motive remained unclear, but the attack, some 250 miles north of state capital Oaxaca, occurred in an area known for cocaine trafficking and marijuana cultivation.

Mexico has seen a surge in drug-related violence in which more than 15,000 people have died in the past three years.

President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown, involving some 50,000 troops, to tackle the country's powerful drug cartels after taking office at the end of 2006.

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