Mexico Under Siege

IN MEXICO, 21 KILLED IN BURST OF CHIHUAHUA VIOLENCE

Gunmen in the Northern Mexico State of Chihuahua Abduct Nine People
and Kill Six of Them Before Being Killed Themselves in Shootouts With Soldiers.

Gunmen seized and killed six people, then got into a rolling shootout
with Mexican soldiers Tuesday in a burst of violence that left at
least 21 dead in the northern state of Chihuahua, officials said.

The scale of bloodletting was remarkable even for Chihuahua, the
deadliest spot in Mexico as a year-old turf war has raged in the
state between rival drug-trafficking groups.

Chihuahua, across the border from Texas and New Mexico, registered
2,000 drug-related killings last year, according to Mexican news
media counts, and has logged more than 200 since Jan. 1.

Tuesday's incident began in the town of Villa Ahumada, which sits
along a key highway route for smugglers 80 miles south of the
violence-torn border city of Ciudad Juarez.

The region has been at the center of the war between Juarez-based
traffickers and rivals from the northwestern state of Sinaloa. In
May, dozens of attackers stormed Villa Ahumada, killing the police
chief, two officers and three civilians. They also reportedly hauled
off 10 other people.

On Tuesday, authorities said, the attackers kidnapped nine people and
took them to a ranch, where they killed six of the captives before
fleeing in two groups.

Mexican troops, who have led the government's crackdown on drug
traffickers, caught up with seven of the gunmen and killed them
during a shootout, said Enrique Torres, spokesman for joint
military-police operations in Chihuahua. A soldier died and a second
was wounded.

The remaining seven gunmen were killed later during separate clashes
with soldiers who gave chase by land and helicopter. Three kidnapping
victims were freed, Torres said.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed 45,000 troops across Mexico as
part of a 2-year-old offensive against organized crime. The crackdown
has exacerbated violent rivalries between big drug-smuggling
organizations and contributed to a record number of killings.

Calderon told a Mexican newspaper Monday that more than 6,000 people
died in the violence across Mexico last year. He said 90% of the dead
were linked to criminal activities.

Tuesday's incident came as Mexican officials defended the use of the
military in the drug war. Interior Minister Fernando Gomez Mont was
quoted in Mexican news reports as saying the army's role was
temporary and designed to give federal and local law enforcement
officials time to clean up and improve police forces.