Gunmen wound Mexican congressman as drug war rages

Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:15pm EST

MEXICO CITY Feb 19 (Reuters) - Gunmen gravely wounded a Mexican federal congressman and killed his driver on Monday after ambushing his vehicle outside a lawless border city at the center of a nationwide drug war, local media reported.

Opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party lawmaker Horacio Garza was rushed to hospital after being shot in the neck, leg and arm near the city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexican television, newspapers and radio reported.

The city across the border from Laredo, Texas, has seen some of the worst violence in a battle between warring drug cartels that killed 2,000 people last year and is still raging despite a military onslaught ordered by President Felipe Calderon.

Garza and his driver were on the road to Nuevo Laredo's airport when gunmen surrounded them in several vehicles and opened fire. The driver died at the scene, media reported.

The shooting came a day after Mexico said it was beefing up security in the border state of Tamaulipas where Nuevo Laredo is located, and in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon.

Since taking office on Dec. 1 Calderon has sent thousands of troops to quell drug violence as the Gulf Cartel, based in Tamaulipas, battles with a confederation of drug lords from the northwestern state of Sinaloa.

Calderon extradited jailed Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas last month to face trial in the United States, but the rash of brazen attacks has continued. In one incident seven people were murdered by hitmen dressed as soldiers in the Pacific resort of Acapulco earlier this month.




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