ATTACKER ON MEXICAN DRUG CZAR IN SERIES BUT STABLE CONDITION

MEXICO CITY - A suspect wounded in the attack on Mexico's drug
czar remained unconscious Monday as investigators waited to question
him to find out who was behind the apparent assassination attempt.

Alfonso Ramirez Calderon was the only suspect captured after four
attackers exchanged gunshots Sunday with the bodyguards of Mariano
Herran Salvatti on a busy street in Mexico City. Herran Salvatti and
his wife, who was riding with him, were uninjured.

Ramirez was in serious but stable condition Monday, a day after
undergoing surgery, the government news agency Notimex reported.
Hospital officials could not be reached for comment.

Ramirez was expected to be questioned by police after being
transferred to a high-security military hospital. The other three
attackers remain at large.

It was not known why the gunmen had targeted Herran, who has been
Mexico's top drug prosecutor since 1997. The attorney general's office
said Monday it had no new information about the case.

Herran told reporters Sunday that he and his wife had left a
restaurant and were heading to a market when a bodyguard on a
motorcycle spotted a passenger on a motorcycle shooting a gun. A
shootout ensued between Herran's bodyguards and four attackers on two
motorcycles. One of the bodyguards was wounded.

Speaking at a news conference in the central state of Morelos, the
U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Jeffrey Davidow, said the attack "shows
that anti-drug efforts are becoming a nuisance (to drug dealers) and
every day the actions by the Mexican government are having a greater
impact."