MEXICO'S TOP POLICE OFFICIAL IS KILLED AS DRUG WAR HEATS UP

MEXICO CITY -- The acting head of Mexico's federal police was murdered
Thursday in what officials believe is part of an increasingly bloody
backlash by cocaine cartels against a government crackdown under
President Felipe Calderon.

Edgar Millan, a career law-enforcement official, was shot multiple
times as he entered his Mexico City home, dying soon after, police
said. The assailants were awaiting him inside.

The killing is the latest sign of Mexico's red-hot war on drugs. Only
weeks after taking power in December 2006, Mr. Calderon started an
offensive against the country's powerful cartels, sending 24,000 army
troops to cities throughout Mexico where drug gangs were running riot
and where local police forces were either corrupt or too scared to
take them on. So far, the offensive has caused even more violence -- a
fact that suggests the battle to control the drug gangs will be long
and hard. Officials say the crackdown disrupts the drug trade, causing
gangs to turn on each other as well as against the authorities, to
protect their business. More than 1,000 people have died so far this
year, mostly in shootouts between rival drug gangs. Last year, more
than 2,500 people died.

The showdown with cartels has major implications for Mexico and Mr.
Calderon. Mexico is slowly approaching the kind of violence seen in
Colombia in the 1990s, when that country was locked in a battle with
its major drug lords. And Mr. Calderon has staked much of his
presidency on restoring order. U.S. officials also worry about the
violence spilling across the border. In a speech yesterday, Mr.
Calderon condemned the killing of Mr. Millan as "cowardly" and praised
Mr. Millan as a national hero who made the ultimate sacrifice for his
country.

Suspicion about the attack immediately turned to the so-called Sinaloa
cartel, led by Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. Mr. Millan helped lead an
operation in January that arrested 12 cartel gunmen who were preparing
to assassinate Mexican officials.

The cartels have since stepped up attacks on law-enforcement
officials. Last week, a top federal-police commander was shot in the
head by gunmen, who stole his car. A day later, a federal-police
intelligence analyst was gunned down outside his home.

In both cases, police say they aren't sure of a motive, but nearly
everyone in Mexico believes the attacks have to do with drug gangs. As
if those killings weren't enough, 17 people were killed in a two-day
orgy of violence over the weekend in Guerrero state by gunmen hunting
for the head of the state cattlemen's association. Police say they
don't have a motive for the killings but suspect the drug trade is
involved. The government has made major strides during the past year
against the cartels, nabbing huge shipments of drugs and a handful of
major drug barons. But losing top officials like Mr. Millan makes the
government's work harder, experts say.

Because his boss was recently promoted to a cabinet position, Mr.
Millan was acting chief of the federal police. He was also doing his
old job of coordinating large-scale operations against organized
crime. Mr. Millan's resume was impressive: He was also the former head
of an elite antikidnapping unit at Mexico's version of the FBI, as
well as a former member of the national intelligence agency.

"This guy was a top operations guy. The question is, can you keep
replacing guys like this?" said a Mexican security official.