Mexican police neutralize car bomb in border city

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican police carried out the controlled detonation of a car bomb Saturday in the troubled border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from Texas.

A phone tip around midnight led authorities to a dead body in a car in a shopping center parking lot, the federal Public Safety Department said in a statement. In a second car, police found the bomb.

Agents deactivated the device and removed most of the explosive material to analyze it before safely detonating the vehicle, the department said. There were no injuries.

Juarez is the same city where drug traffickers staged the first successful car bombing in Mexico, killing three people in July.

There have been three other vehicle explosions in recent weeks in Ciudad Victoria, capital of the border state of Tamaulipas.

Ciudad, across from El Paso, Texas, has been one of the cities most affected by Mexico's drug violence. More than 2,100 people have been murdered there so far this year — putting it on pace to surpass its previous high of 2,700, set last year.

Across the country, more than 28,000 people have been killed since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive against the cartels soon after taking office.

In the central state of Morelos, police discovered nine bodies in clandestine graves Saturday in the same area where four more were recently found.

25 slain in Mexican city; deadliest day in two years

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Gunmen killed 25 people in a series of drug-gang attacks in Ciudad Juarez, marking the deadliest day in more than two years for the Mexican border city, authorities said Friday.

Thursday's toll included 15 people killed when attackers stormed four homes in three hours, said Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office of Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juarez is located.

In the worst of those attacks, gunmen burst into a house and killed two young men — then killed four others for being witnesses.

Sandoval said it was the highest single-day murder toll in the city across from El Paso, Texas, since March 2008. He did not give more details of how many died back then, or say what day.

Two graffiti message appeared in Ciudad Juarez threatening Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the fugitive head of the Sinaloa drug cartel.

"You are killing our sons. You already did, and now we are going to kill your families," one sign read.

Ciudad Juarez, with a population of 1.3 million, has become one of the world's most dangerous cities amid a turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.

Violence has continued unabated despite the deployment of thousands of soldiers to the city this year. Federal police, including a special investigative unit, later took over security in the city as part of a new strategy announced by President Felipe Calderon.

More than 2,100 people have been killed this year in Ciudad Juarez, putting the city on pace to surpass its previous high of 2,700, set last year.

Daily homicide tolls routinely reach double digits in Juarez; 24 people were killed Aug. 15

New Travel Warning for Mexico

WASHINGTON - The State Department has issued another travel warning for those heading across the border into Mexico.

Officials are urging citizen to avoid unnecessary trips to several Mexican states, including Michoacán, Tamaulipas, and Chihuahua.

They particularly want travelers to avoid driving on the Mexican Highway 2 between Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo.

Officials say the area has seen an increase of robberies and kidnappings with criminals targeting people in SUV's and trucks.

As of Friday, family members of US consulate workers have evacuated the offices from Monterrey to Matamoros.

Mexican Gunmen Fire at Border Patrol Agents

ANZALDUAS PARK - The FBI is investigating after armed men shot at border patrol agents on the Rio Grande.

A Border Patrol Spokesperson tells CHANNEL 5 NEWS agents chased a vehicle to the river's edge near Anzalduas Park this morning.

The driver swam to Mexico leaving behind his vehicle loaded with drugs. As agents were removing over a thousand pounds of marijuana armed men in Mexico began shooting at agents patrolling on boats.

The agents returned fire several times forcing the gunmen in Mexico to flee. No injuries were reported.

Today's News was brought to you by a grant from MALDEF, The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.