Drug-gang violence claims 20 in Mexican city

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico - At least 20 people were killed in drug-gang violence over the weekend in this northern border city, including seven found dead outside one house.

The seven men were believed to have been at a family party when they were gunned down Saturday night, said Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the attorney general's office in Chihuahua state. Five were found dead in a car, and the other two were shot at the entrance of the home.

There have been several such massacres in Ciudad Juárez, a city held hostage by a nearly three-year turf battle between the Juárez and Sinaloa cartels. It is across the border from El Paso, Texas.

In the southern city of Oaxaca, police found a human head in a gift-wrapped box left Saturday night on the side of a cliff popular for its view of the picturesque colonial center. Reporters at the scene saw a threatening message left with the head signed, "the last letter Z," an apparent reference to the Zetas drug gang. - AP