Mexico’s killing spree: 10 decapitated and 31 shot down in “cartel war”
Forensics personnel remove the bodies of two policemen killed by gunmen during an attack on a street of Culiacan, Sinaloa state on July 12, 2011. Mexico has been gripped by drug-related violence and in an incident on July 10 the a woman’s severed head was found on the hood of an abandoned truck containing 10 decapitated corpses.
The gruesome find of a woman’s severed head on the hood of an abandoned truck in northern Mexico – left as a bloody calling card, leading police to 10 decapitated bodies inside – caps a weekend of drug cartel violence, reportedly killing more than 40.
Mexican authorities attributed the executions to Torreon’s warring drug gangs, the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel, the BBC reports.
It is understood the victims – three women and seven men – were killed days earlier given their bodies, found Saturday, were already showing signs of decomposition.
The remaining nine severed heads were found along the roadside, accompanied by threatening messages.
National Security spokesman Alejandro Poire told the BBC that the government would not back down from its longstanding battle against drug cartels, estimating that more than 34,000 people had been killed in a four-year offensive.
He also told AFP: "They are waging an absurd war, to the death, for control of criminal turf and drug trafficking routes to the United States."
As the news agency reports, authorities sent 1,800 federal agents into Michoacan state on Saturday, backed by four MI and Black Hawk helicopters, 170 vehicles and 15 ambulances. The move responded to the latest wave of drug cartel violence that erupted Friday, killing at least 41 people within 24 hours.
The 10 decapitated bodies were reportedly found hours after 20 people were killed late Friday, when gunmen opened fire in a crowded bar in Monterrey. According to The New York Times, even a hot dog vendor, positioned outside the bar, was shot down in the attack.
A further 11 people were shot dead Friday in Valle de Chalco. CBS News reports that the bodies were found piled near a water well.