Mexico roiled by grenades, bombings in bloody weekend (47 deaths)

Northern Mexico was shaken by a weekend of violence, with 47 deaths blamed on drug cartels and a series of grenade attacks that injured a dozen people, officials said Sunday. Twelve people, including six children, were hurt in a late night grenade attack at a busy plaza outside Monterrey, according to officials who said it was one of four bombings to rock the industrial border city over the weekend. Authorities said Sunday that the grenade was thrown by unidentified assailants at about 11:00 pm Saturday (0400 GMT Sunday) near the town hall in Guadalupe, a suburb of the bustling city near the border with the United States. Earlier Saturday, three explosive devices were detonated, including one near the US consulate and another not far from a prosecutor's office that wounded a guard. The blasts damaged roads and nearby vehicles, said police, who have yet to identify the culprits. Monterrey, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the US border, has been the scene of brutal violence blamed on feuding drug cartels fighting over control of trafficking routes into the lucrative US market...more