About 20 killed in crimes, shootouts in Mexico

Six were suspected victims of "executions" by organized crime around Mexico on 18 or 19 October, their bodies found in locations in the northern states of Baja California, Sinaloa and Coahuila, Proceso reported. The victims had variously been tied up and shot to death and in cases apparently tortured before. Early on 20 October, 10 were killed in shootouts between state forces and suspected members of The Zetas in the northern city of Nuevo Laredo, Proceso reported. Shooting began when patrols met with convoys of estate cars carrying armed men in different parts of the city; firing reportedly cleared parts of the city of car traffic. In Tlalpan south of Mexico City, police found over several days the bodies of four taxi drivers thought to have been killed by a gang of kidnappers, and were seeking a fifth victim, Proceso reported on 20 October. The bodies were found in one or several informal graves near the road between the capital and Cuernavaca; two suspected members of the gang were being questioned.