Pubdate: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 Source: El Paso Times (TX) Copyright: 2009 El Paso Times Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/formnewsroom Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829 Author: Diana Washington Valdez Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/mexico JUAREZ: SOLDIER AMONG 25 SLAIN DURING VIOLENT DAY In one of the bloodiest days on record in Chihuahua state, 21 people were killed early Tuesday about 90 miles south of Juarez after several reported kidnappings and shootouts between Mexican soldiers and the kidnappers, Mexican officials said. Chihuahua state police also reported the deaths of four others in Juarez, for a total of 25 people killed in less than 24 hours. Enrique Torres, spokes man for Joint Chihuahua Operation, which is leading the crackdown against drug dealers in the state, said everything started late Monday when an armed commando began abducting people from their homes in Villa Ahumada, which is south of Juarez on the Panamerican Highway. The kidnappers allegedly picked up a total of nine people, including police officers, and shot six of them to death at a ranch at El Vergel, a village between Villa Ahumada and Samalayuca. The military was called in, set free three of the nine kidnap victims, and pursued the kidnappers. Torres said firefights broke out between the soldiers and the kidnappers in various spots, resulting in 14 kidnappers and one soldier killed. A second soldier was seriously wounded. Officials said the bodies were later taken to the Juarez morgue, where the victims' families had already gathered. Also Tuesday, Juarez police recovered the bodies of four shooting victims: two unidentified men in the Jose Maria Morelos neighborhood, another man identified as Mario Marquez Marquez, 41, in the La Cuesta neighborhood, and an unidentified man found inside a pickup on Avenida Tecnologico. Over Sunday and Monday, authorities reported seven other homicides in Juarez. On Monday, soldiers removed two live grenades from outside the Chihuahua state attorney general's offices in Chihuahua City; no one was injured. More than 230 people have been killed in Juarez since the beginning of the year, and authorities have blamed drug violence for most of the deaths. More than 1,600 people were killed in 2008 in the violence that has gripped Juarez. As the violence escalated last year, the Mexican federal government sent 2,000 soldiers to Juarez and the region to help reduce the conflict between drug cartels. The soldiers patrolled the streets of Juarez in a show of force and since then have been involved in drug busts and fatal shootings. Last week, soldiers and federal police seized nearly 2 tons of marijuana. In January, the Mexican army detained two men in connection with the kidnapping of a maquiladora official. In November, soldiers made another 2-ton drug seizure. Soldiers fatally shot two men after the men allegedly shot at the soldiers during a routine road check, and in September, soldiers shot and killed a robbery suspect. The Associated Press contributed to this story. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin