Mexico spirals deeper into violence

Another wave of violence washed across Mexico at the end of last week, as more than two dozen people, including a newspaper publisher and two federal agents were gunned down, reports the L.A. Times' Tracy Wilkinson.

"The slayings came as Mexico endures an unprecedented wave of drug-related warfare that has claimed thousands of lives as narcotics trafficking networks battle among themselves and with authorities."

"In the northern city of Chihuahua, 11 people died when four masked men dressed in black entered the Rio Rosas bar late Thursday and raked customers with gunfire. Seven people were wounded. The gunmen reportedly gained entrance by telling a guard that they were conducting a routine inspection. They disappeared into the night after the shootings, state prosecutors said, and no arrests had been made."

"A columnist for a local newspaper was among the dead."

"Early Friday, two federal agents and two suspected drug traffickers were killed in a shootout along the highway between Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez, a city that borders Texas and has been an epicenter of drug violence."

Click here for our special report "Mexico Under Siege" about the violence, its causes and political consequences.

-- Reed Johnson in Los Angeles