Dozens Killed in Brutal Mexican Drug Wars

(June 15) -- At least 29 prison inmates and 15 police officers have been killed in a new wave of apparent drug-related violence that has hit a number of states in cartel-riddled Mexico.

At least 12 police officers died Monday in an ambush by suspected drug gang members in Michoacan, the western home state of President Felipe Calderon that is the base for the notorious La Familia gang.

Three other policemen were killed by gunmen who pulled up alongside their vehicle in the border state of Chihuahua, the BBC reported.

Twenty inmates were shot to death in the first of two attacks Monday in the Mazatlan jail, located in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, a state official told a radio station, according to The Associated Press.

Seventeen members of one gang died after a shooting attack by a rival gang, which lost three of its own members in the fighting. Three policemen were wounded, with one of them reported in serious condition. Hours later, eight prisoners were stabbed to death, the news agency quoted a public safety spokeswoman as saying.

According to unconfirmed local media reports, those who were attacked belonged to the Zetas drug ring, which has been fighting the Sinaloa cartel for control of the key smuggling routes that run through the state.

Sinaloa's state governor, Jesus Aguilar, asked that serious offenders be transferred from the Mazatlan prison last week after voicing concerns about serious overcrowding, the BBC said.

On June 10, at least two dozen gunmen associated with drug cartels killed 19 men in an attack on a drug rehabilitation center in Chihuahua, The New York Times reported. On June 11 the bodies of 18 men and two women were found in different parts of Ciudad Madero, a city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.

Monday's police ambush in Michoacan was aimed at a federal convoy on its way back to Mexico City. After blocking the road, gunmen fired machine guns at the vehicles in the town of Zitacuaro, said the BBC, which added that some of attackers were killed and wounded as they fled from the scene.

According to a Reuters report, Mexican drug cartels have forced a number of candidates to drop out of local elections to be held next month in states near the U.S. border and have killed at least one person running for mayor.

The mayoral candidate, in the border town of Valle Hermoso in the state of Tamaulipas, was shot to death after speaking out against drug cartel violence, the news agency quoted the police and other politicians as saying.

Several candidates in Chihuahua state were forced to drop out after receiving threats, and two leftist candidates had to receive police protection to register for the election, Reuters reported.

At least 23,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Calderon came to office in 2006 and ordered security forces to fight the drug rings. According to the news agency, Calderon blames the media for exaggerating the situation.