Over 40 dead in drug violence

Stepping up his much-maligned war on drugs, President Felipe Calderon said Saturday that Mexico would create four new battalions to broaden its war against drug traffickers along the US border.

The states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and San Luis Potosi have also been increasingly hard hit by violent drug crime amid clashes between the Gulf and Zetas cartels, former allies that have now turned against one another.

More than 34,600 people have been killed in drug-related violence since December 2006, when Calderon's government deployed soldiers and federal police in a widespread crackdown on the illegal cartels.

AFP