"Three people linked to US consulate in Mexico killed."

Here is an excerpt from this news story on BBC News online:

"Three people connected to the US consulate in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez have been killed, the White House has said. They include a consulate employee and her husband, both American, and the Mexican husband of another employee... The three victims were killed in drive-by shootings on Saturday afternoon, a US official told the BBC on condition of anonymity, citing privacy considerations. The White House statement did not provide any details of the incident in Ciudad Juarez... Meanwhile, the State Department has authorised government employees at six US consulates in northern Mexico to send their family members out of the area over concerns about rising drug-related violence. The six consulates are in the border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros. The department said in a statement Sunday that recent violent attacks have led the US Embassy in Mexico City to advise American citizens to delay unnecessary travel to parts of the Mexican states of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua." Link to Full Article

Analysis: Unfortunately, I don't have much to offer by way of analysis yet because this story is just breaking this morning. I felt it was important to get the raw information out there first. I'm working to find more details on who the victims are and who the shooting suspects are, but information is very scant right now, even in the Spanish-language Mexican dailies. If any of my readers out there have more solid details, please email me at [email protected] or post the info in the comments section.

I should say right now that I have no indication at the present time that these people were specifically targeted by Mexican DTOs strictly because (a) they were American, and/or (b) they were associated with the US consulate in Cuidad Juárez. That may change, but such targeting would represent a massive shift in DTO modus operandi, and it's too soon to draw such dramatic conclusions from an incident on which we have so little information right now. More to come...

Comments

[Borderland Beat]

We received some information from Ciudad Juarez, but only on the couple that were in the truck.

The couple was executed by a heavily armed commando on Saturday afternoon as they were travelling in a Toyota pickup truck with Texas plates. The gunmen chased them down and caught up to them, riddling the vehicle with a hail of bullets right behind the City Hall. In the attack their ten month daughter who was in a baby chair in the back seat survived the attack.

Not much else.

[Borderland Beat]

Correction it was not a pickup truck but a small SUV, mexicans often refer to SUV's as "trokas."