Seventeen patients have been shot dead at a drug rehab clinic in Mexico after a group of suspected hitmen stormed the building.
The gunmen burst into the clinic in Ciudad Juarez near the US border and forced patients to line up in a corridor before killing them, the Mexican army said.
"Armed men shot at about 20 people, killing 17 of them and injuring three," said army spokesman Enrique Torres.
Drug gangs have targeted rehab clinics in the city before, accusing the centres of protecting dealers from rival gangs.
In a similar attack last year, eight people were killed at a rehab clinic for drug addicts.
Ciudad Juarez is the centre of the bloody war between Mexican drug cartels fighting to control trafficking routes into the US.
The shooting happened despite the presence of 10,000 troops and federal police, who constantly patrol the streets of the city.
In a separate incident, gunmen killed the deputy police chief in Michoacan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon.
Jose Manuel Revueltas, who was appointed just two weeks ago, was intercepted by heavily armed men in two vehicles as he drove down a street a few blocks from police headquarters.
The 38-year-old and his two bodyguards died in the intense gunfire that also killed a man travelling on a bus, police said.
Mr Calderon has staked his presidency on crushing the cartels whose battle has claimed more than 13,000 lives since late 2006.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Mexico-Drugs-Wars-Gunmen-Shoot-17-Patients-Dead-At-Drug-Rehab-Clinic-In-Ciudad-Juarez/Article/200909115373880
7/3/10
Gunmen Shoot 17 Dead In Drug Rehab 'Hit'
Seventeen patients have been shot dead at a drug rehab clinic in Mexico after a group of suspected hitmen stormed the building.
The gunmen burst into the clinic in Ciudad Juarez near the US border and forced patients to line up in a corridor before killing them, the Mexican army said.
"Armed men shot at about 20 people, killing 17 of them and injuring three," said army spokesman Enrique Torres.
Drug gangs have targeted rehab clinics in the city before, accusing the centres of protecting dealers from rival gangs.
In a similar attack last year, eight people were killed at a rehab clinic for drug addicts.
Ciudad Juarez is the centre of the bloody war between Mexican drug cartels fighting to control trafficking routes into the US.
The shooting happened despite the presence of 10,000 troops and federal police, who constantly patrol the streets of the city.
In a separate incident, gunmen killed the deputy police chief in Michoacan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon.
Jose Manuel Revueltas, who was appointed just two weeks ago, was intercepted by heavily armed men in two vehicles as he drove down a street a few blocks from police headquarters.
The 38-year-old and his two bodyguards died in the intense gunfire that also killed a man travelling on a bus, police said.
Mr Calderon has staked his presidency on crushing the cartels whose battle has claimed more than 13,000 lives since late 2006.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Mexico-Drugs-Wars-Gunmen-Shoot-17-Patients-Dead-At-Drug-Rehab-Clinic-In-Ciudad-Juarez/Article/200909115373880
