Mexico army kills dozens of drug suspects

Soldiers killed 25 suspected drug cartel members yesterday in a raid and gun battle in a Mexican state near the US border that has seen a surge in gang violence, the military said.

Mexico's defence department said soldiers on a reconnaissance flight over Ciudad Mier in Tamaulipas state saw several gunmen in front of a property. When troops on the ground moved in, gunmen opened fire, starting a gunbattle that killed 25 suspected cartel members, according to the military. The statement said two soldiers were injured.

Authorities rescued three people believed to be kidnap victims in the raid, according to the statement. The military said troops seized 25 rifles, four grenades, 4,200 rounds of ammunition and 23 vehicles.

The raid came after President Felipe Calderón tried to rally frustrated Mexicans behind the increasingly bloody drug war yesterday, saying he knows violence has surged under his watch, but arguing that it is the price of confronting powerful and brutal cartels.

Calderón delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address two days after his government brought down the third major kingpin in less than a year. But it also came less than two weeks after the massacre of 72 migrants near the US border, which laid bare how freely drug traffickers operate in pockets of the country.

"I am well aware that over the past year, violence has worsened," Calderón said. "But we must battle on."

Calderón has struggled to maintain support for a fight that was hugely popular when he first deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police to drug-cartel strongholds across the country in late 2006.

Since then, gang violence has become more shocking, with beheaded bodies found hanged from bridges and police discovering pits filled with dozens of slain cartel victims. Gangs have employed warfare tactics previously unseen in Mexico, including car bombs and blockades in front of police stations and army garrisons.

North-east Mexico has been particularly violent this year since the powerful Zetas cartel broke ranks with their former employer, the Gulf cartel, making the state of Tamaulipas one of the country's most dangerous battlegrounds.

In June gunmen ambushed and killed the leading candidate for state governor a week before the elections. And in May a mayoral candidate in Tamaulipas was assassinated.

In August Mexican marines discovered the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants believed to have been gunned down by the Zetas after refusing to smuggle drugs, in what may be the deadliest cartel massacre to date. The dead migrants were discovered at a ranch about 100 miles (160km) from the US border in Tamaulipas.