The Associated Press
 AP Photo Paramedics wheel away an injuried patient after a gunmen opened fire killing at least one person in northen Mexico Tuesday, just hours after police found seven bodies in a soccer field. |
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Seven bodies were dumped before dawn Tuesday at a school soccer field in the Mexican border city of Juarez.
Neighbors in an upscale neighborhood found the bodies lined up along the field’s fence, along with three banners allegedly signed by a Mexican drug gang. Officials wouldn’t give details on the messages.
Alejandro Pariente, a spokesman for the local prosecutor’s office, said officials were still trying to identify the victims. They had no suspects in the killings.
The victims had been shot, beaten and choked, but the exact cause of death was still being determined.
The homicides were the latest of hundreds of gruesome killings in Ciudad Juarez.
Mexico is caught in a rising wave of violence as drug gangs battle for territory and fight off a nationwide crackdown led by President Felipe Calderon.
Calderon has sent more than 20,000 soldiers across the country to take back territory controlled by cartels.