Drug gang blamed for mass killing of 116 near border

The Mexican government accused the Zetas drug gang on Tuesday of killing 116 people whose corpses have been found in a series of mass graves near the American border. Police have detained 17 suspects and believe gunmen from the notoriously violent cartel dragged the victims off buses passing through the San Fernando area of northeastern Tamaulipas state. "As of (Tuesday) we can confirm that a total of 116 people have been found dead as a result of criminal actions apparently caused by actions by the Zetas criminal group," Mexico's attorney general Marisela Morales told reporters. Los Zetas, founded by deserters from the Mexican special forces and thought to have many corrupt former officials and ex-police on its payroll, is at the heart of the narcotics trade and organized crime in Mexico. Engaged since February 2010 in a turf war for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the United States with the Gulf Cartel -- its former employers -- the cartel was blamed for the massacre of 72 migrants in August in Tamaulipas. The largest concentration of graves ever found in Mexico was unearthed on Thursday in the San Fernando area, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the Texan border, and the grisly toll has been rising steadily since...more