Reuters AlertNet Lite - Mexico drugs hitmen kill rival and his dog

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Mexico drugs hitmen kill rival and his dog

18 Apr 2007 22:06:54 GMT
Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Reuters) - Mexican drug gunmen tortured and murdered a rival then shot dead his dog and dumped it on top of his corpse in one of the most brutal killings of a three-year-old war between cartels.

The killers apparently drove the man's truck over his head before leaving his body in a street in the state of Michoacan with a menacing note to his relatives nailed to his chest.

The viciousness of the attack surprised even Michoacan residents hardened to daily bloodshed.

"To kill someone's dog is pretty rare," local journalist Sergio Cortes said on Wednesday. "They took him from his truck and it seems his dog tried to defend him."

The victim's hands and feet were tied, his face disfigured by bullet wounds and his body showed signs of torture, the local prosecutor's office said. The dog, an off-white mongrel, was shot in the neck.

Dumped at dawn in the town of Buenavista Tomatlan, the man's body was one of four found on Tuesday in Mexico, where violence between warring cartels has forced President Felipe Calderon to launch an army crackdown on drug gangs.

Mexican media said the dead man was related to members of the local Valencia gang which is caught up in a fight between Mexico's main drug smuggling groups: the Gulf Cartel and an alliance of traffickers headed by Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.

Killers tossed five severed heads onto the dance floor of a seedy nightclub in Michoacan last September.

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Last updated:Wed Apr 18 22:06:37 2007