Mexico: Drug hitmen kill 17 at a party

Suspected drug hitmen stormed a private party and killed 17 people in the northern Mexican city of Torreon on Sunday in one of the deadliest attacks in Mexico's drug war.Gunmen in five SUVs drove up to the party in a walled patio and garden on the outskirts of the city in Coahuila state across from Texas, smashed down the door and opened fire with automatic rifles on party-goers at about 1 am. The gunmen opened fire, shooting at everyone in the area without ever saying a word. Video and still photos show blood-stained floor tiles, overturned chairs and musical instruments by a beer tent abandoned as people ran in panic. The prosecutor's office said the party garden was strewn with more than 100 bullet casings. According to officials, 18 people were injured in the attack and taken to hospital. No arrests have been made so far. The early morning attack comes days after a drug gang detonated a car bomb in Ciudad Juarez late on Thursday, killing four people in the first attack of its kind in Mexico's drug war. In Torreon, it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack but the area, a key transit point along smuggling routes into the United States, is being fought over by the Sinaloa cartel led by Mexico's most-wanted man, Joaquin Shorty Guzman, and the Zetas gang from northeastern Mexico. More than 26,000 people have been killed in drug violence across Mexico since Calderon took office and started a crackdown on drug cartels in 2006. Escalating violence is worrying Washington and investors in the oil-producing country once known for its political stability next door to the United States.