MEXICAN GUNMEN ROLL HUMAN HEADS ONTO BAR FLOOR

Gunmen Threw Five Human Heads Onto A Bar's Dance Floor In Mexico.
Investigators Think The Beheadings Could Be Linked To The Country's
Brutal Drug Wars.

MEXICO CITY - Gunmen roll human heads onto bar floor.

Gunmen barged into a bar in central Mexico early Wednesday and tossed
five human heads on the dance floor after ordering customers to get
down on the floor -- a chilling show of brutality in a nation plagued
by growing drug violence.

The Internet site of the Mexican newspaper Reforma carried a gruesome
photo of heads scattered across a white tile floor smeared with blood.
Next to the heads was a note written on a piece of cardboard reading:
``The family doesn't kill for money. It doesn't kill women. It doesn't
kill innocent people, only those who deserve to die. Everyone knows
that. This is divine justice.''

Heavily armed men fired their guns in the air as they entered the bar
along a highway about 1:30 a.m. in the city of Uruapan in central
Michoacan state, said Magdalena Guzman, spokeswoman for the state
prosecutor's office. They ordered patrons to the ground before tossing
the heads out of plastic bags and onto the center of the dance floor.

No arrests had been made and investigators believed the beheadings
were linked to organized crime, possibly drug smugglers, Guzman said.

Police were still trying to identify the victims, she said. Officials
last week found a headless body of a man in the nearby town of
Tepalcatepec, but authorities had not yet determined if his head was
among the five.

Guzman said the state prosecutor and governor had requested the
federal government beef up organized crime investigators in the
Pacific coast state.

Officials also urged the public to come forward with any
information.

''No one who was at the bar wants to talk because they are afraid,''
Guzman said. ``They were stunned.''

Arrests of major drug cartel leaders have sparked an increasingly
brutal and ruthless drug war in Mexico as gangs battle for control of
lucrative routes.

So far this year, at least six human heads of police and rival drug
smugglers have been found in the Pacific resort of Acapulco. One
washed up on a popular beach in the tourist zone, and the rest have
been dumped in front of government offices.

In the past few months, heads have also been found in other states
plagued by drug violence, including the border states of Baja
California and Nuevo Leon.

President-elect Felipe Calderon has pledged to crack down on drug
violence and make public security a top priority.

Calderon, who takes office Dec. 1, is from Michoacan state, but there
were no immediate indications the brutal display was aimed at sending
him a message.