Mexico Drug War Bloodshed: January was the most violent month in half a year

Milenio: "During January there were 960 executions in 24 states in Mexico, representing the most violent month since July last year when 1,036 executions were committed.

In the month that ended yesterday, 55 percent of homicides related to organized crime occurred in five states, 230 were killed in Chihuahua, which has been on the top of the list for more than two years. Nuevo Leon was  in second place, accounting for 83 deaths,...doubling the 39 recorded in December.

Also, the increase in executions in the State of Mexico stands out, where they went from 18 in December to 69 in January, an increase of almost 400 percent. ... In Guerrero, 69 executions were carried out, three more than December. Despite being the third most violent state, the number in January does not come close to the 132 murders committed in October 2010.

Another of the states that had a significant increase was Michoacan, where 66 murders occurred related to organized crime.  The figure not been as high in that state since June of last year.  ... In Jalisco, homicides increased 115 percent over the last month of 2011, 64 deaths occurring in January, 21 of them committed on January 27.

In contrast, in Sinaloa, the number of executions fell by more than 200 percent over the previous month. 51 murders were recorded in Sinaloa, which is the lowest figure for the state since October 2009. ...

The most violent day of the month was recorded on January 27, when 61 people were executed in 12 states: 21 of them were committed in Jalisco, 15 in Chihuahua and more 13 more persons were killed in clashes in Veracruz, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.

During January 35 police were killed, 19 of them were municipal police, nine were state and four were federal. Two soldiers were also killed. Also killed were 32 women, 19 minors and three people who were working as civil servants" Spanish original