Mexican army disarms police in town near US border

TIJUANA, Mexico, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Mexican troops disarmed the entire police force of a town near the U.S. border on Friday after a failed attempt to kill the police chief raised suspicions it was infiltrated by drug traffickers.

Troops and police from the state of Baja California took over the beach resort town of Rosarito, just south of the sprawling border city of Tijuana, near San Diego, California.

The force's 200 guns will be checked to see if any were used in the mid-December attack on Rosarito's chief of police in which one of his bodyguards died.

"We recognize that the enemy is inside our house and for this reason we are purging the ranks," Baja California state police chief Daniel de la Rosa told reporters. "We need to have confidence in our police."

Since taking office in December 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sent some 25,000 troops to bring order to areas where drug gangs are strong, such as along the U.S.-Mexico border and in the western state of Michoacan.

Despite these actions, about 2,500 people have died so far this year in turf wars among different drug gangs.

In January, troops disarmed the police in the city of Tijuana in a similar drug-related purge. (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; writing by Chris Aspin; editing by Eric Walsh)