Mexico's drug violence intensifies

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Mexico's drug violence intensifies

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At least 40 people have lost their lives in a new wave of attacks by Mexico's drug cartel gangsters in tit-for-tat operations against the government of the Hispanic state.

In the newest eruption of violence, gunmen in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez went on a killing spree, slaughtering 18 and injuring five others at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Chihuahua state.

Local officials have warned about more casualties as security forces continue their search for more dead bodies, AFP reported on Wednesday.

The latest attack comes in less than 24 hours after an earlier assault in which 21 other citizens were massacred in the violence-riddled state which holds key supply routes for the smuggling of narcotics into El Paso in Texas, US.

Also on Wednesday, gunmen shot dead Manuel Revuelta, the number two security official in Mexican President Felipe Calderon's home state of Michoacan.

Around 10,000 Mexicans have died over the past two years in drug-related violence that shows no signs of abatement.

Mexican government blames the notorious La Familia and Los Zetas, a ruthless drug cartel comprised of former armed forces service members, for working in collusion with other international drug dealers to stir up the bloodshed across the country.

The country's drug cartels have been concerting efforts to shore up anti-government operations after Calderon's cabinet launched an all-out campaign in a bid to combat militancy and corruption in a nation beleaguered by years of drug issues.

Despite the deployment of 36,000 government troops, Mexico's administration has been unable to uproot the cartels that have penetrated hierarchies in local governments.

Mexico's infamous drug cartels, which traffic a large part of Latin America's synthetic and herbal narcotics into North America and Europe via West Africa, have also stepped up rivalry in recent years in order to gain control over the supply routes.

ARQN/AKM
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