CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Killings between rival drug cartels are rising again in Mexico's most violent city despite a massive army deployment that temporarily slashed the murder rate on the U.S. border.
Drug gangsters in Ciudad Jaurez who used to chase enemies in flashy black jeeps have lowered their profile but are still killing each other as 10,000 troops and federal police patrol the city, across the border from El Paso, Texas.
"Criminals are taking a different approach, using pistols not assault weapons and driving around in small, old cars to reach their rivals, ditching their SUVs," said army spokesman Enrique Torres.
The government says the army has cut drug murders by up to 80 percent since soldiers arrived in March -- but gangs killed 12 people on May 1 in one of the bloodiest days this year.
Mexico's drug war death toll is running at around 2,300 people this year, slightly higher than at the same point in 2008, even as the army makes historic seizures of weapons and cash and arrests top cartel leaders.Seven people were tied up in black plastic bags and thrown off a bridge in the southern state of Guerrero this month. Police believe the victims may have been alive when they were tossed because the bodies had no bullet wounds or bruises.
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