Gunmen kill eight at restaurant in northern Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Gunmen shot and killed eight people in a violence-plagued northern Mexico border city that is a target of the government's war against drug gangs, police told Reuters on Saturday.

A dozen hitmen on Friday opened fire at people dining together at a restaurant in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, instantly killing seven of them and fatally wounding another, police said.

The army is battling the Sinaloa and Gulf drug cartels that are also fighting each other over lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed thousands of troops and police to Ciudad Juarez and across the country to raid suspected safe houses and search cars for drugs at highway checkpoints.

But the offensive has led to an escalation of drug violence that has killed around 4,500 people this year.

The government admitted on Friday it has made little progress fighting violent crime, the latest grim assessment of Calderon's push to make the streets safer.

(Reporting by Anahi Rama; Editing by Xavier Briand)