JUAREZ IN SHOCK

Attack Considered City's Worst Multiple Shooting

The brutality of a massacre at Juarez drug rehabilitation center in
which 18 people were killed shocked a city already plagued with
record-breaking violence.

A motive for the attack was under investigation, but it appeared to
be linked to feuding drug trafficking groups.

Chihuahua state public safety secretary Victor Valencia said such
drug centers are sometimes fronts for criminal gangs and one
narcotics expert said the slayings are unlikely make much of a
difference in the overall balance of power in the drug war.

The massacre is believed to be the worst multiple shooting ever in
Juarez, which is a battleground in a war between the Juarez and
Sinaloa drug cartels that has left more than 3,000 dead since January 2008.

"This type of terrorist acts can't be foreseen because I'm sure if
the federal government, the state or city had known of this attack,
measures would have been taken to stop the criminals," said Guillermo
Dowell Delgado, who is the equivalent of a city manager.

The incident is at least the third and largest mass shooting at drug
treatment centers in Juarez since last year.

The city's public safety secretary, retired Mexican army Gen. Julian
David Rivera Breton, on Thursday ordered extra police patrols and the
installation of panic buttons at other drug treatment facilities.

Shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, an unknown number of gunmen with
assault rifles burst into the Casa El Aliviane drug rehab center on
1243 Uranio, west of downtown Juarez near the Rio Grande across
Downtown El Paso.

The gunmen demanded all 20 people in the building line up in a
hallway, said Joint Operation Chihuahua spokesman Enrique Torres.

The assailants then began firing their AK-47 rifles.

Sixteen men died piled on each other at the scene. Four people were
taken to a hospital in serious condition where two of them died a
short time later.

Officials had initially reported 19 people had died and six others
were wounded. Officials said the other two wounded remained in
serious condition.

The wounded and dead left behind "a river of blood," a police officer
at the scene told the Norte de Ciudad Juarez newspaper Wednesday
night at a scene filled with soldiers, police and a military
helicopter circling overhead. There have been no arrests.

The center in Juarez is not legally affiliated with Aliviane of El
Paso treatment center.

"We feel a deep sorrow for the unfortunate incident that has occurred
at the El Aliviane drug rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez,"
Aliviane of El Paso officials said in a statement.

The victims of the shooting were men ranging in age from 17 to 51.
Some were identified through tattoos, state police said.

Authorities said a motive for the killing was under investigation and
would not confirm rumors the victims were Aztecas gang members.

The Aztecas and their U.S.-based brethren the Barrio Azteca prison
gang are known to run drug treatment centers for their members in
Juarez, FBI agents have said. The gang is allied with La Linea, as
the Juarez drug cartel is also known.

"I think the significance (in the drug rehab attack) is in the number
of people killed but these were street-level people, (drug) users or
gang members," said Robert Almonte, executive director of the Texas
Narcotics Officers Association.

"Why would anybody want to kill drug addicts? Because they are
affiliated with a cartel," Almonte said. "It's a sad situation."

In August 2008, eight men were killed during a religious service at
one drug rehab center. Last June, gunmen shot and killed five of 50
patients at another center with the survivors escaping by running out
a back door and jumping over walls.

Drug treatment centers can be a good front to find recruits to do the
bidding of Mexican drug cartels, narcotics experts said.

For example, the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel in western Mexico
spreads its religious-influenced message of empowerment and
self-renewal among drug addicts, alcoholics and delinquents to build
a cult of true believers, said an essay by George W. Grayson, a
government professor at the College of William and Mary who has
extensively studied La Familia cartel.

The shooting at the drug rehab center puts more emphasis on the
violence that continues to grip the city. The month of August was
record-shattering and ended with more than 307 homicides.

In one month, Juarez has had nearly as many deaths as some major
American cities all of last year.

In 2008, Los Angeles had 384 murders, Detroit had 306 and
Philadelphia recorded 331, according to the FBI's preliminary Uniform
Crime Report.

In other developments Thursday, Mexican military officials said
soldiers arrested Juan Gerardo Hernandez del Real, 24, alias "El
Moreno," who is accused of being involved in 13 killings, including
last month's fatal shooting of an army captain inside the Bol-Bol
bowling alley.

And Wednesday, soldiers arrested Javier Martinez Gomez, 39, aka "El
Tijuas," 39, and Armando Rosales Arteaga, 44, aka "El Mandis."
Martinez is suspected in 13 deaths and Rosales is suspected in 24 killings.

All three suspects allegedly belong to La Linea with Rosales
allegedly working for a cartel cell run by "the brothers Araiza"
transporting cocaine and marijuana from Chihuahua City, officials said.

The three arrests come after the recent capture of two hit squads
suspected in taking part in more than 200 murders.