Mexico to extradite Tijuana kingpin to U.S.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico agreed on Tuesday to extradite drug lord Benjamin Arellano Felix to the United States as suspected drug hitmen killed another six people in a border city in the latest round of a killing spree.

Arellano Felix, known as "El Min", was head of the powerful Tijuana cartel that operates across the U.S. border from San Diego, California until his capture in early 2002.

Mexico's Attorney General's office said Arellano Felix will be tried in a Southern California court on charges of smuggling tons of cocaine into California between 1990 and 2000.

The decision overturns a decision in May by a Mexican federal judge to block the extradition.

Arellano Felix, whose cartel is now run by sister Enedina and brother Eduardo, is the latest high profile Mexican drug lord to be extradited by the government of President Felipe Calderon, who took office in 2006.

Calderon extradited former Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas to Texas in January 2007, marking increased U.S.-Mexico cooperation in the drug fight.

Mexican drug violence is spiraling as cartels fight each other for control of smuggling routes.

The latest six to die in Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico brought the death toll in the city bordering El Paso, Texas, to 41 since the start of the weekend, police said. Gunmen killed 17 people on Sunday alone.

Over 500 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez since the start of the year, making it the most deadly city in Mexico's drug war, despite a large deployment of well-armed troops and federal police.