Nine decapitated heads were found in plastic bags in Chilpancingo, capital of Mexico's southern Guerrero state, among 13 men assassinated in the state Dec. 21. Four were thrown off the Quetzalapa bridge in Iguala. Of the nine decapitated, eight were soldiers and one was a former subdirector of the state Judicial Police. Local residents found the heads at dawn near a shopping center; the bodies were located later, with signs of torture—three of them five kilometers away. A note was found near the heads, warning: "For each one of us they kill, we will kill 10 of them." The Defense Secretariat responded in a statement: "They are trying to frighten the Armed Forces, but we'll continue the battle." The regional army commander, Enrique Jorge Alonso, speaking at a ceremony honoring the slain soldiers warned: "The criminals made a grave mistake with this audacious crime." (AGI, Dec. 22; AFP, Cronica de Hoy, Nov. 21)

In the northern state of Coahuila, a small plane crashed over the weekend, killing two government officials—water commissioner Emilio Bichara Marcos and his secretary Rafael Reyes—and injuring three others. The plane's engine lost power just as it was about to land in Ramos Arizpe, hitting high-voltage wires, crashing and catching fire. It was at least the fourth plane to crash this year with government officials aboard. In November, the interior secretary and 15 others died when their jet crashed in Mexico City. (Xinhua, Dec. 21)

On Dec. 23, eight bodies were found stuffed in plastic garbage bags and dumped on a rural road near the Guatemalan border in southern Chiapas state. The bodies were found by a farmer near the town of Tuxtla Chico. The victims have yet to be identified. (AP, Dec. 23)

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