Associated Press
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Gunmen killed four people, including two state police officers, in less than 18 hours in this Mexican border city.
Masked assailants ambushed and killed businessman Samuel Ureno, 37, on Thursday, said Marco Antonio Torres Moreno, public safety director.
Hours earlier, Jorge Esparza, 34, was killed. Late Wednesday, gunmen fired more than 50 rounds at state police officers Moises Perez and Hector Macias, killing them instantly.
Torres Moreno said police were trying to determine whether the attacks were related.
Also Thursday, assailants opened fire and threw grenades at state police headquarters in three towns in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, wounding two officers, police said.
Guerrero, which includes the resorts cities of Zihuatanejo and Acapulco, has suffered from a wave of violence including decapitations, shootings and grenade explosions that authorities attribute to warring drug-trafficking gangs.
President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 24,000 soldiers and federal police throughout Mexico to battle heavily armed drug gangs blamed for more than 1,000 deaths this year.