Mexico pays tribute to beheaded soldiers

Mexico’s government held a memorial service for seven soldiers whose decapitated bodies were left along a boulevard with a sign: “For every one of mine that you kill, I will kill 10.”

A bag with the victims’ heads, some still gagged with tape, was found nearby.

The discovery in Chilpancingo, an hour north of the resort of Acapulco in southern Mexico, marked the most gruesome attack yet against the Mexican army in its half-century battle against drug gangs.

The government honoured the dead yesterday in a high-profile ceremony aimed at reassuring the nation that it would not surrender, despite escalating violence that has killed 5,300 people this year and the betrayal of more than a dozen top law enforcement officials accused of accepting money to protect cartels.

President Felipe Calderon said the attack showed that his government’s crackdown was putting pressure on the cartels and he promised “firm action” in response.

“We are well aware that these cowardly assassins are trying to terrorise the state and society,” Mr Calderon said at a speech in Mexico City.

“We will not take one step back in this fight nor will there be any deal or mercy for the country’s clear enemies.”

Mr Calderon did not attend the memorial service, but his defence and interior secretaries stood before flag-draped coffins at the army base in Chilpancingo.

Regional military commander General Enrique Alonso Garrido said the beheadings were an “offence against Mexican institutions and especially against those who wear a military uniform”.

“These criminals made a grave error with this audacious act,” he said. “There will be no concessions, and what’s more, we will not rest until we have put them in their place.”

Authorities found 12 decapitated bodies on Sunday in and around Chilpancingo, the capital of the violent state of Guerrero. So far, officials have identified seven as soldiers but have not given information on the rest of the dead. Another decapitated soldier was found on December 9.

The Mexican defence department refused to say how the soldiers were attacked or which cartel was suspected of carrying out the killings.

Mexico has often turned to the army to battle drugs since sending troops in a “great campaign” to wipe out drug plantations in 1948. Soldiers have grown ever more involved in tackling narcotics

since then, largely due to corruption among police forces.

Gangs who once avoided confrontations with the army have responded with unprecedented violence, launching ever-bolder and bloodier killings, targeting not only rivals but police and soldiers on a near-daily basis.