4 heads found in coolers near Durango, Mexicos

Reuters/Washington Post:

Suspected drug hit men dumped four human heads in ice chests in northern Mexico on Friday in a gruesome killing of rivals, a state attorney general's office said.

"They were four men, beheaded by groups linked to drug trafficking. We believe the victims were drug gang members themselves," a spokeswoman said.

The heads were placed in four ice chests on Friday morning on a highway on the edge of the mining city of Durango and were found by police patrolling in the area.

Durango state is close to the Pacific state of Sinaloa, home to major traffickers including Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman.

Gangland killings have surged again in Mexico in recent weeks and organized crime murders across the country total 1,378 this year, Mexico's attorney general said on Friday, up 47 percent from this time last year.

Drug violence killed more than 2,500 people in 2007 as rival gangs fought over smuggling routes to the United States.

Torturing or beheading rivals is common in drug cartel killings.

In an incident in Ciudad Juarez across from El Paso, Texas, police found five bodies wrapped in blankets and dumped in an empty lot on one of the city's main avenues on Friday, the Chihuahua state attorney general's office said.

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If the drug insurgents are trying to terrorize each other it apparently is not working. Escalating brutality in the red on red fights between drug dealers has not led to anyone backing down. Maybe Obama can talk to them and get them to stop fighting and importing drugs. The Democrats other policy is to cut back support for the Mexican government in fighting these guys.