Mexican official's SUV attacked near border

Associated Press

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - Gunmen wielding assault rifles attacked a vehicle carrying federal Congressman Horacio Garza in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, wounding him and killing his driver Monday, just one day after the government announced a sweeping crackdown on drug-fueled crime in the area.

Garza was in stable condition after suffering gunshot wounds to the neck, leg and shoulder in the attack, but his driver, Hector Morales Juarez, died at the scene on a roadway leading to the city's airport.

"He's all right, he's stable, he's out of danger," Garza's wife, Carmen Galvan, told reporters outside the Specialized Hospital in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo.

The city has been wracked by bloody turf battles between drug gangs, but police offered no immediate information on a possible motive in the attack.