8 Cops gunned down in Mexico

Mexico City, Agency
Eight police were killed Monday near the western Mexican city of Guamuchil, a spokesperson for the Sinaloa state Attorney General's Office.

Three other police officers were wounded in the attack, which took place around 12:00 p.m. on the Benito Juarez Expressway.

Preliminary reports indicate the victims were part of a mobile checkpoint unit, the spokesperson said.

The western state is home to the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's most powerful drug trafficking outfit and a leading combatant in the gangland conflict blamed for more than 28,000 deaths nationwide since December 2006.

Word of the slayings in Sinaloa came hours after authorities in Tijuana - near San Diego, California - said six people had been murdered in their city.

Two of the victims, who were partially naked and decapitated, were found hanging off a bridge on the road linking Tijuana to nearby Rosarito.

One of the men was hanging by the hands and the other was hanging by his feet.

The victims' severed heads were found inside an SUV parked next to the bridge.

Four other people, meanwhile, were gunned down while eating.

The killers, who may have been present at the dinner, fled after the shooting.

The killings came after a period of peace in Tijuana due to a drop in organized crime activities.

The peace, however, appears to have been shattered in the past few weeks even as Tijuana has launched an advertising campaign to change its image in the minds of the public.