3 decapitated bodies found near Tijuana

TIJUANA, Mexico — Three decapitated bodies were found Tuesday in an empty lot on the eastern outskirts of Tijuana, the Mexican attorney general's office said.

The killings were the latest in a wave of mostly drug-related violence that has swept Mexico, much of it near the U.S. border. Drug cartels have turned to decapitating their victims as a way to intimidate rivals.

Officials said the bodies had messages written on their backs in permanent marker saying they worked for "the weakened 'engineer,'" a nickname for Francisco Sanchez Arellano, a top lieutenant in Tijuana's powerful Arellano Felix drug cartel.

The killings were apparently carried out by a rival group.

Witnesses said the bodies were left near a trash heap and had their hands tied behind their backs. The heads were found nearby, and had been burned.

Baja California state prosecutor Rommel Moreno Manjarrez told the newspaper La Frontera that the murders likely resulted from a power struggle within the Arellano Felix cartel following the arrest last week of one of operation's key gunmen at a Tijuana casino.

Another decapitated body and a man who had been stabbed to death were found Monday on the outskirts of Tijuana.

President Felipe Calderon is waging nationwide battle to take back territory controlled by some of the world's most powerful drug gangs. But the cartels have responded with unprecedented violence, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border.

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