Mexico border city violence leaves 19 dead

Suspected drug-related violence left 19 dead in the northern Mexico border city of Ciudad Juarez, including a charred, armless body dumped at a police station.

Suspected drug-related violence left 19 dead in the northern Mexico border city of Ciudad Juarez, including a charred, armless body dumped at a police station, local officials said on Tuesday.

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Officials at first said the body had been decapitated, but a spokesperson for the local district attorney's office said late yesterday that the unidentified body, which had been thrown from a car in front of the police station, had no arms.

Elsewhere, an armed commando shot and killed two men and two women outside Ciudad Juarez hospital, a police official said.

Another 13 died in separate attacks in the violent city across the border from the US city of El Paso, Texas, which has Mexico's highest murder rate this year, with more than 1,300 killed.

Gangland-style attacks have left more than 4,000 dead across the country this year, despite a vast federal crackdown including the deployment of some 36,000 soldiers, launched almost two years ago.