Police commander slain in Mexico's deadliest city

The Associated Press

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Authorities say gunmen have killed a police commander in Mexico's deadliest city, where a dismembered, decapitated body was found hours before.

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Police officials investigate a crime scene, near an unidentified body, after a shootout in Garcia, on the outskirts of Monterrey, in northern Mexico, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2009. Garcia's police chief Arturo Esparza was murdered in the incident, among others, after gunmen opened fire, in what is considered to be the latest attack against a military official appointed to take over municipal police forces, which President Felipe Calderon has acknowledged are plagued with corruption. (AP Photo)

Enlarge photo

Police officials investigate a truck involved in a shootout which killed city police chief Arturo Esparza in Garcia, Mexico, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2009. Gunmen assassinated an army general recently named police chief of Garcia in the latest attack against a military official appointed to take over municipal police forces, which President Felipe Calderon has acknowledged are plagued with corruption. (AP Photo)

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Police spokesman Jacinto Segura says Noel Martinez was shot inside his car Friday morning. Martinez is a former military officer who was a district supervisor for the police in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

The city is caught in a turf war between drug cartels that has killed more than 2,000 people this year.

State prosecutor's spokesman Arturo Sandoval says authorities earlier Friday found a beheaded man in front of a university campus.

Drug violence has killed nearly 14,000 people nationwide since the government launched a crackdown on cartels in 2006.

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November 06, 2009 02:51 PM EST

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