13 slain in single day

Gunmen killed 13 people in a single day in the violence-plagued Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, state prosecutors said. Two of the dead were police officers.

Gunmen killed 13 people in a single day in the violence-plagued Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, state prosecutors said. Two of the dead were police officers. The Chihuahua state Attorney General's Office issued a news release on Tuesday that said Monday's string of killings might be tied to organized crime, but police had not arrested anyone. The shootings occurred in eight different locations throughout the city.

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Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, is Mexico's deadliest city. Authorities say turf battles between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels are largely responsible for a continuing wave of drug-related violence that cost more than 2,500 lives in 2009. In the western border city of Tijuana, prosecutors said four people were killed in separate attacks Tuesday and six others died on Monday.

Baja California state prosecutors reported that a woman's bound body was found on a sidewalk early Tuesday, while three men were shot to death in two separate attacks.

On Monday, police found a decapitated body and a severed head, accompanied by a written message from drug traffickers, Baja California state Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Cristina Perez said.

In another area of the city, police found a man's severed head in a black plastic bag, but had not located the body. Later Monday, a 20-year-old was slain when gunmen opened fire in an upscale restaurant. Three men were killed and four others were wounded in other shootings.

Throughout Mexico, drug-related violence has killed more than 15,000 people since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels three years ago.