Federal Police

Mexican authorities Thursday announced the arrest of a gang leader who allegedly directed the fatal car bomb attack in Ciudad Juarez last summer that stoked fears of a dangerous escalation in the drug war. Fernando Contreras Meraz, identified as a regional boss of an armed gang known as La Linea, was arrested Wednesday in the northern city of Chihuahua with 13 other suspects, federal police officials said. Contreras is accused of overseeing the July 15 blast that killed four people, including a police officer, on a busy Juarez street.

About 3,200 Mexican federal police officers, nearly a tenth of the force, have been fired this year under new rules designed to weed out crooked cops and modernize law enforcement, officials said Monday. The housecleaning is part of President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on drug cartels, which includes overhauling the 34,500-strong federal police force. An additional 465 federal officers have been charged with breaking the law, and 1,020 others face disciplinary action after failing screening tests, officials said.

Mexico announced the capture Monday of one of its most wanted alleged drug lords, a Texas-born figure accused of unleashing a wave of brutal slayings near Mexico City as part of a ruthless battle with rivals. Edgar Valdez Villarreal, also known by the improbable nickname "La Barbie," was seized by federal police in the state of Mexico, the region surrounding Mexico City, the Public Security Ministry said in a statement. Valdez allegedly served as the top enforcer for Arturo Beltran Leyva, a major kingpin killed by Mexican marines in December.

Four are killed in what officials call a well-planned trap near a federal police headquarters. It appears to be the first time traffickers have used a car bomb since the start of a military-led offensive against drug cartels. Drug traffickers have added a powerful weapon to their arsenal, employing a car packed with nearly 20 pounds of explosives to kill police officers, Mexican authorities said Friday. Four people were killed — including a police officer and a doctor lured to within a few feet of the bomb — in what authorities said was a well-orchestrated trap.

Armed attacks on Mexican federal police Monday in violent Michoacan state sparked shootouts that killed at least 10 officers and an unknown number of gunmen, authorities said. The twin ambushes in the city of Zitacuaro underscored anew the brazenness with which criminal groups have taken on Mexican security forces. The federal public safety department said officers had finished patrol and were headed to Mexico City when they came under attack. The officers returned fire, killing some gunmen and wounding several.

A shootout between Mexican soldiers and gunmen Tuesday left at least 14 people dead in the scenic mining town of Taxco, known to tourists for its silver jewelry. Authorities in the southern state of Guerrero said all those killed during the morning shootout appeared to be gunmen. State officials had not provided more details by late afternoon. Mexican news reports said the shooting broke out when troops went to search a suspected criminal hide-out in Taxco, a picturesque town of stone-paved streets and silver shops that draws thousands of visitors each year.

Two police cars apparently lured into an intersection in the violent city of Ciudad Juarez on Friday were ambushed by gunmen. At least seven officers were killed in the brazen midday attack, along with a 17-year-old passerby. Two other injured officers were hospitalized and under heavy guard, said public security spokesman Enrique Torres, to prevent gunmen from attempting to finish the job. All but one of the dead officers were from the U.S.-trained federal police force. The seventh was a municipal policewoman.

A chaotic shootout Wednesday on a hotel-lined boulevard in the beach resort city of Acapulco left as many as six people dead, Mexican authorities said. Federal police officers patrolling the area came under fire after they heard gunshots and saw attackers shooting at two men in a car, authorities said. The gunmen also shot at other vehicles as they tried to flee, riddling dozens of cars with bullet holes. The victims included a woman and her 8-year-old daughter. No tourists appeared to have been killed.

A kidnapping attempt in northern Mexico led to a highway car chase and gun battle that left seven gunmen and a federal police officer dead, Mexican authorities said. The federal Public Safety Ministry said two kidnapping victims were freed after the late-Monday shootout with gunmen believed to belong to the drug-trafficking gang known as the Zetas. Federal police in Coahuila state went to a shopping center in the city of Torreon after getting a report that two people had been taken captive.

Reporting from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico -- The mayor had good news: A notorious thug from one of the drug cartels had been found killed. Hector "El Negro" Saldana would no longer menace the people of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico. Trouble was, Saldana's body hadn't yet been discovered when Mayor Mauricio Fernandez made the announcement with a flourish at his swearing-in ceremony in October. How did Fernandez know about Saldana's demise hours before investigators found the body stuffed in a car hundreds of miles away in Mexico City?