Hitmen linked to Mexican drug lord kill army agents
MEXICO CITY, April 21 (Reuters) - Suspected drug hitmen killed two undercover Mexican military intelligence agents on Tuesday and left a taunting message purporting to be from aides of the country's top drug fugitive, local media said.
The bodies of the two men were found in the northwestern state of Durango with a note saying: "You'll never get El Chapo," in a reference to Mexico's most-wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the online versions of dailies Milenio and El Universal said.
The killings came days after the archbishop of Durango state caused a media frenzy by saying that Guzman -- who dramatically escaped from jail in a laundry cart in 2001 -- was living in a village in the state.
Police and the attorney general's office in Durango declined to comment on Tuesday's reports, which also said the blindfolded and hand-tied military agents had been wearing rancher outfits as a disguise.
Guzman's smuggling cartel, based in the neighboring coastal state of Sinaloa, is one of a handful of rival gangs whose battles for control of smuggling routes into the United States have killed nearly 2,000 people this year.
Durango, prized by the gangs for its trafficking routes through remote mountains, has seen a spike in drug violence this year as Mexican President Felipe Calderon tries to crush cartels along the border with the United States.
Some 6,300 people died in drug violence last year in an escalating conflict that is worrying Washington as it starts to spill over into U.S. cities including Phoenix and Tucson.
U.S. President Barack Obama visited Mexico last week and promised to reinforce security along the U.S.-Mexican border and crack down on the flow of American weapons into Mexico that has helped drug gangs amass huge arsenals. (Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Todd Eastham)
