Mexico's murder toll hits 24,374
The number of murders in Mexico rose by nearly a quarter in 2010 compared with the year before as the drug war intensified, new figures show.
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography recorded 24,374 homicides in Mexico last year, a 23 per cent increase from 19,803 in 2009.
Last year's figure represented 22 killings for every 100,000 residents in the country, not all of them drug related.