300 women killed in 2010 in Mexican border city

Ciudad Juarez, Dec 26 (IANS/EFE) The number of women killed in 2010 in Mexico’s northern border city of Ciudad Juarez has risen to 300, official figures show.

The tally was based on figures from the Chihuahua state Attorney General’s Office. Ciudad Juarez is located across the US border’s El Paso city in Texas.

The city first gained notoriety in the early 1990s when young women began to disappear in the area. With 191 homicides per 100,000 residents, Ciudad Juarez was the most violent city in the world in 2009, two Mexican NGOs said in a report released earlier this year.

The latest victim’s body was found wrapped in a tarpaulin in an irrigation canal. The corpse was hidden under cardboard and blankets and discovered by a resident who was gathering firewood in the area.

The case brings the number of murders of women in the city in December to 13.

Around 3,100 drug-related homicides have been reported this year - close to nine per day.

–IANS/EFE