Eight shot to death

Mexico (AP):

Unidentified gunmen shot eight men to death and piled their bodies in a pickup truck in the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexican authorities reported yesterday after a weekend in which at least 19 people were slain nationwide.

The victims were apparently on a hunting trip in rural Oaxaca near the Gulf Coast when they were attacked. The state prosecutors' office said they were shot in the head and found Sunday, and one was 15 years old.

The motive is under investi-gation, but the region has been wracked by drug violence, land disputes and other feuds.

Six killed at party

In the border city of Ciudad Juarez, meanwhile, at least six people were shot dead at a party over the weekend, and the bound, bullet-ridden bodies of four men were found dumped on a roadside.

Drug violence has taken more than 1,400 lives in Ciudad Juarez and 28,000 nationwide since the government stepped up its offensive against drug cartels in late 2006.

On Sunday, Proceso magazine published the first death-scene photos to emerge of one of the higher-profile victims: drug lord Ignacio Coronel, killed in a clash with soldiers on July 29.