Mexico Nabs Suspected Killer Of 17 Rehab Patients

Troops captured the suspected killer of 17 patients at a rehabilitation clinic in northern Mexico, one of the deadliest attacks in President Felipe Calderon's three-year war against drug cartels. The suspect, Jose Rodolfo Escajeda, is considered one of the bloodiest hitmen in the crime-ridden state of Chihuahua and a leader of the powerful Juarez Cartel. He is on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's most-wanted list for marijuana and cocaine smuggling into the United States.

About a dozen hooded men burst into a clinic in the violence-plagued industrial city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, lined up patients and killed 17 of them. Turf wars and targeted attacks by drug trafficking gangs have killed more than 13,000 people across Mexico since Calderon took power in late 2006 and launched his drug war, a level of violence that has alarmed Washington and unnerved both tourists and investors.

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New Taliban Leader Threatens US To Avenge Baitullah’s Death

The new leader of the Pakistani Taliban threatened to strike back at the US for killing Baitullah Mehsud in a Predator attack earlier last month. "We will take revenge and soon," Hakeemullah Mehsud, who was chosen to lead the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan last weekend, told AFP. "We will give our reply to this drone attack to America."

The Taliban claimed Baitullah died on Aug. 23 of wounds suffered during the Aug. 5 airstrike that also killed his second wife and seven of his bodyguards. Hakeemullah and Baitullah were cousins; Baitullah helped Hakeemullah quickly rise through the ranks of the Taliban.

Any attack would likely take place inside Pakistan. A successful attack would help cement Hakeemullah's position as the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban.

Hakeemullah is one of the Taliban's most able military commanders who also has the ability to conduct large-scale terror attacks. His forces were behind the capture of an entire company of Pakistani Army soldiers as well as the campaign against NATO supplies moving through Khyber and Peshawar.

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