THE number of murder victims unearthed in mass graves in northern Mexico this month has risen to 279, making it easily the worst discovery of its kind since the government began a campaign against drug cartels.

GUARDS and officials at a prison in northern Mexico let inmates out, lent them guns and allowed them to use official vehicles to carry out drug-related killings, including the massacre of 17 people, prosecutors claimed.

A Mexican prison brawl left 23 inmates dead today.

The severed heads of six state police investigators were found on a public plaza in the northern Mexican state of Durango.

A fight among inmates at a prison in northern Mexico killed 19 inmates and left more than 20 injured, Durango state officials said.

Two small bombs blamed on Basque separatist group ETA exploded on the Spanish island of Majorca today.

Dozens of people were injured when a powerful car bomb exploded early today in northern Spain outside a barracks housing police officers and their families.

A car bomb exploded today outside a police station in the Basque city of Durango, injuring two officers in what appeared to be the first attack by separatist group ETA since it called off a ceasefire in June.

Gun-toting Basque militants claiming to speak for ETA said the Basque separatist group will “keep taking up arms” until the region achieves independence, a newspaper said today – the starkest sign yet that a fledgling peace process seems to be struggling.

Fire crews finally made progress against the worst wildfire in Arizona’s history yesterday, but swirling winds raised fears of more blazes.

An explosive 500-square-mile wildfire has burned practically to the doorstep of the evacuated US mountain town of Show Low, Arizona, as crews fought to hold back the flames.

Two enormous wildfires are believed to have merged into a 50-mile-long line of flame advancing through paper-dry forest in eastern Arizona.

A wildfire raging east of Los Angeles overran two fire engine crews, burning three people and shutting down the main road between Southern California and Las Vegas.

A refuge for Hollywood celebrities has been set up in Mexico.