Mexican authorities say they suspect drug traffickers are to blame in the killing of six people in three communities in the conflicted southern state of Chiapas. The first slayings occurred late Aug. 23 on a highway linking Tapachula with Tuxtla Chico on the Pacific coast. Gunmen in a car forced an SUV off the road and opened fire, killing Genaro Cruz, 47, and Julio Cesar Cruz, 21. There were no arrests.

Early Aug. 24, three teens were tortured and shot to death by unkown assailants in Suchiate, also on the Pacific coast near the Guatemalan border. The victims, two aged 17 and one 15, were forced to dig a large hole before being killed. A man originally from El Salvador was arrested in that case.

Police in Mapastepec, also in the coastal zone of Chiapas near the border, report that another man died after being attacked and nearly decapitated with machetes. No arrests have been made in that case. (AP, Aug. 24)

Se our last post on Chiapas.