Body parts found in Acapulco as killings continue

Mon 5 Feb 2007

ACAPULCO, Mexico (Reuters) - A man's chopped up body was discovered in the Mexican city of Acapulco dumped in plastic garbage bags, police said on Sunday, in the latest grisly killing to mar the once glamorous Pacific resort.

Acapulco, famed for its cliff divers and sweeping bay, has been hit by a brutal war between rival drug gangs who have staged shootouts in broad daylight near tourist areas. It was not clear if the latest slaying was drug-related.

"It's one body, of a male," a police official said by telephone, but declined to give further details.

A Reuters photographer in Acapulco said the body parts were discovered on a patch of wasteland on Saturday afternoon after a dog tore open the black plastic bags.

Separately, emergency services in Acapulco said on Sunday that two Canadian tourists were in the hospital after being shot in the legs by unknown gunmen who fired at them as they drove by them on the main seafront avenue on Saturday evening.

Neither was seriously injured, and no further details were available of the gunmen, a spokeswoman said.

There were 190 drug gang-related deaths in Mexico in January, only a handful less than a year ago, despite an army crackdown on feuding cartels ordered by new President Felipe Calderon.

_____

2 Canadians Hurt by Gunfire in Acapulco