Mexico Gas Station Shooting Kills 2 Steps From US Border

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) – Gunmen killed two men at a gas station steps away from an international crossing in a town across the border from Columbus, New Mexico.

Police say 41-year-old Javier Perez and 25-year-od Adrian Juarez yesterday were getting gas in the Mexican town of Palomas.

The assailants — some wearing ski masks — pulled up in two cars and opened fire on the men. Prosecutor’s spokesman Cesar Ramirez says so far no arrests, as police try to determine a motive for the shootings.

The border state of Chihuahua, where Palomas is located, has been plagued by drug violence as Mexico’s crackdown on its powerful cartels stokes turf wars among traffickers.

Chihuahua authorities said Tuesday that investigators found parts from at least nine bodies in a series of backyard pits at a house in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)