CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – The police chief of the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez has submitted his resignation following a string of killings that included some of his top officers, officials said yesterday.
City spokesman Sergio Belmonte said Public Safety Director Guillermo Prieto would be replaced by a military officer on leave from the armed forces, but he declined to release the name of the new chief.
Murder rates have spiked this year in the city across from El Paso, Texas, and at least seven city police commanders were killed by hit men believed to be linked to drug cartels.
On Saturday, the bodies of a federal consumer-protection official and two other men were found in a car just hours after they were kidnapped by armed, masked men in Ciudad Juarez. The official had been strangled; the other two men have not yet been identified.
Local media also reported a series of killings over the weekend, including an attack by gunmen in the town of Ahumada and a shooting at a nightclub involving assault rifles.
