At least 22 people died in suspected drug-related violence in northern Mexico, officials said on Tuesday, including seven youths whose tortured bodies were dumped on a city street.
Suspected drug attacks are on the rise just weeks before mid-term elections seen by many as a referendum on President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on warring drug gangs, which includes the deployment of some 36,000 troops across the country.
A tipoff alerted police to seven tortured bodies of males aged between 18 and 25 lying in a street in Gomez Palacio, in northern Durango state, said an official from the state attorney general's office.
Meanwhile 11 people died overnight Monday to Tuesday in separate attacks in Mexico's most violent city, Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, according to the deputy attorney general's office of Chihuahua state.
Four others died in separate attacks elsewhere in the volatile northern state.
More than 10,000 have died in suspected drug violence since Calderon launched his crackdown after coming to power two-and-a-half years ago.