Thirteen shot and killed in Mexico gang violence (Roundup)

Jul 11, 2008, 15:45 GMT

Mexico City - Suspected gang members killed nine people at an auto repair shop and three police investigators were shot dead near police headquarters in the northern Mexican city of Culiacan, local media reported late Thursday.

In Ciudad Juarez, in the northern state of Chihuahua, one police officer was shot dead, Mexican media reported Friday.

Nine people were shot within eight minutes inside and just outside the auto body shop, in an attack perpetrated by 20 armed attackers.

No further details of the attack were available.

Three state police officers were shot near Culiacan's police headquarters, reportedly by the same people who had attacked the auto repair shop, in their retreat.

According to reports they also shot at a military patrol.

There was an extensive search, but no suspects were arrested, according to Friday media reports.

Culiacan is the capital of northern Sinaloa state and home to the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.

According to a count by the Mexican daily El Universal, over 2,100 people have been killed so far this year by organized crime in Mexico. In the northern states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua alone, an ongoing wave of drug-related violence has killed some 900 people this year.

The government of Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed scores of thousands of soldiers and federal police officers to to fight the drug cartels in the most troubled areas.