Drugs hitmen blamed for Mexico border killings

Authorities suspect drug cartel hitmen are behind the murders of an American couple and Mexican man with ties to the United States consulate. US President Barack Obama said he was outraged by these latest killings in the border city of Ciudad Juarez on Saturday night.

Reuters

The slain couple had been travelling during the day in a car with their infant daughter in the back. The baby survived unharmed, a US official said.

In a second attack, the Mexican employee was following her husband and two children in a separate car, when her husband's vehicle came under fire, killing him and wounding the two children.

The Chihuahua state government identified the victims as US consular worker Lesley Enriquez, her American husband Arthur Redelfs and Mexican national Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of another consulate employee.

The US State Department has authorised US staff in six consulates along the US-Mexican border to send their dependants home.

It also warned US citizens to delay unnecessary travel to parts of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua states, saying "violence in the country has increased”.

No motive has so far been suggested for Saturday’s co-ordinated shootings, but several prominent drug kingpins have been recently extradited by Mexico to the United States to stand trial.

Mexican and US authorities said "the Aztecas", a gang linked to the powerful Juarez drug cartel, may have been behind the killings.

The US Congress has approved some 1.3 billion dollars for Mexico under a regional plan to fight organised crime.

Ciudad Juarez, with a population 1.3 million, is a major hub for smuggling illegal drugs into the US. More than 2,600 people were murdered there in 2009 in drug-related violence.