Post date: Jan 09, 2011 10:42:16 AM
At least 25 people found dead in Acapulco in a day of drug gang skirmishes
MEXICO-BRUTAL KILLINGS - Another day of drug violence in Mexico.
At least 25 people were killed within 24 hours in the beach town of Acapulco.
Fifteen bodies, all but one decapitated, were found near a shopping mall. Hand-written messages, known as "calling cards" of drug cartels, were left on the bodies.
Four other murder victims were found in other parts of the city.Later in the day, six bodies with torture marks were found inside a taxi.
Hours later, four were wounded when armed men shot at a police station on the city's south side. A police officer was killed in a patrol car.
Acapulco is popular with tourists for its beautiful beaches, but is now besieged in a three-way drug war. Three cartels are fighting for control of the city, and its ports and access to the U.S.
Drug violence has killed more than 30,000 people since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels four years ago.
The government is now under pressure to show that Mexico -- a top oil exporter and a major emerging market economy -- is still a safe place to invest.
Michaela Cabrera, Reuters.