MEXICAN AUTHORITIES are investigating the deaths of eight soldiers, whose decapitated bodies were found after one of the most brazen attacks yet by the country's warring drug cartels.
The severed heads were found on Sunday in black plastic bags dumped near a superstore in the southern city of Chilpancingo.
Their bodies were recovered along two motorways leading to the coastal resort of Acapulco 80km (50 miles) away.
All the victims were in civilian clothes. Unofficial reports suggested the troopers were killed while on leave.
The military is at the forefront of a two-year-old campaign against the cartels that control cocaine trafficking to the US as well as local production of marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine.
A defence ministry statement called the murders "cowardly acts by criminal organisations seeking to scare off the armed forces".
Mexican newspapers cited a note found beside the heads warning: "For every one of ours you kill, we will kill 10 of yours."
The note prompted speculation of a revenge attack for the deaths of three gang members killed in a shootout nearby on Friday.
Such propaganda has become a regular feature of Mexico's escalating drug violence, which has killed 5,300 people this year, double the record total of 2007.
The vast majority of the victims are low-level members of rival gangs killed in a turf war.
Quelling the gang violence was the original aim of the offensive launched by President Felipe Calderon in December 2006, but the rate of violent deaths has continued to rise.
Members of the security forces make up about 10 per cent of the overall death toll, although most victims belong to the notoriously corrupt police.
The army has a cleaner reputation - this is no doubt one of the reasons for its major role in the recent crackdown. Such a reputation also goes a long way in explaining why the decapitations have been greeted with such shock in Mexico.
"We are committed to this fight with all of its consequences," Mr Calderon said yesterday.
He was speaking in the course of an event held to honour a Mexican military hero who fought in the 19th century war of independence against Spain.
"We will not stand down and there will be no truce with enemies of the state," he said.
The army said the attacks were a sign that drug traffickers were weakening under high-profile captures of major cartel leaders and massive drug hauls in recent months.
Military men, from generals to foot soldiers, in the violent border state of Baja California, have said they are being offered up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to turn a blind eye to shipments or call off anti-drugs operations. - ( Guardian service, additional reporting Reuters)