Mexico adds police as drug killings mount

Tue Jan 8, 2008 11:37 PM ET

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico sent hundreds of police reinforcements to the border city of Tijuana on Tuesday following a rash of organized crime killings and as Mexican media said two cops were shot dead in another northern town.

Some 500 additional officers arrived in the first wave of 1,000 reinforcements, which will more than double the number of federal police already dispatched to Tijuana, located just across the border from San Diego, California.

"It's part of the stepping up of actions against organized crime in this border area," Rommel Moreno, attorney general for Baja California state, told Reuters. "The fight against abductions will continue to be the priority."

Three police officers were abducted and murdered in Tijuana over the New Year. Hundreds of troops were deployed there last month after the attempted murder of a police chief raised suspicions that drug traffickers had infiltrated local police.