US SURGE PLAN TO CONTAIN MEXICO DRUG VIOLENCE

Spiralling drug violence in Mexico has prompted US authorities to plan a
"surge" of civilian and military action should the mayhem spill across the
border between the two countries

The outgoing US homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, said on
Wednesday that plans had been drawn up to deploy aircraft, armoured
vehicles and special teams, including military personnel, to trouble
spots if civilian agencies were overwhelmed.

"We completed a contingency plan for border violence, so if we did get
a significant spillover, we have a surge - if I may use that word -
capability to bring in not only our own assets, but even to work with
[the defence department]," Chertoff told the New York Times.

A total of 5,500 people have died in Mexico this year in
confrontations between rival cartels fighting for control of lucrative
smuggling routes into the US. In 2007, 2,300 people were killed in
drug-related violence.

As Chertoff was speaking, it was reported from Tijuana, across the US
border from San Diego, that the bodies of four decapitated teenagers
had been found in a suburb of the city, their heads in black plastic
bags. Two further bodies were found wrapped in blankets in the city,
and a 22-year-old man was shot and killed as he stood outside his
house. Another man was shot by several assailants as he drove through
an area of central Tijuana.

The US ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, said on Wednesday that a
further $99m (UKP 65m) in US aid would be given to the Mexican
military to buy planes and inspection equipment to fight the drug
cartels. Garza said that he expected the violence to get worse this
year.