5 Found slain in Acapulco, Mexico

Chilpancingo, Agency
Five people were found murdered on the outskirts of the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, officials in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero said Thursday.

The victims were gagged and their bodies bore signs of torture, as well as gunshot wounds, police commander Fernando Monreal said.

One of the dead was identified as Antonio Valdez Andrade, an organizer of street vendors in the city who was also involved in Acapulco Mayor Manuel Añorve's campaign for governor of Guerrero.

Left with the bodies was a message accusing the victims of support for a drug kingpin.

Acapulco has been the scene of bitter turf battles between rival drug cartels, resulting in hundreds of deaths in recent years.

Separately, officials in the northeastern border state of Nuevo Leon said that a round of gunshot and grenade attacks on police left one officer and one civilian dead.

Guadalupe Sanchez, public safety secretary in the Monterrey suburb of San Nicolas, said the attacks began Wednesday afternoon.

In the first incident, two police patrolling San Nicolas came under fire from assailants riding in an SUV. Officer Ruben Castillo was wounded and taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery and is reportedly out of danger.

Two hours later, gunmen fired shots at another patrol car in the town of Guadalupe, also part of the Monterrey metro area, leaving one policeman and one civilian bystander dead and a policewoman wounded.

Unknown assailants also launched two grenades at the Federal Police headquarters in the town of Sabinas, a town located along the highway linking Monterrey and the border city of Nuevo Laredo.

Other municipal and state police patrols have been targeted by gunfire from suspected cartel hit men in Nuevo Leon in recent days. Assailants have also hurled grenades at police barracks in that state.

Nuevo Leon and neighboring Tamaulipas state have been dealing with a wave of violence unleashed by drug traffickers battling for control of smuggling routes into the United States.

More than 28,000 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon declared war on Mexico's cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.

According to officials, more than 7,000 gangland killings have occurred this year in Mexico. The death toll for all of 2009 was 7,724.