Drug Gunmen Attack 2 Mexican Army Bases

Dozens of gunmen yesterday mounted rare and apparently coordinated attacks on two army garrisons in northern Mexico, touching off firefights that killed 18 attackers. The attempts to blockade soldiers inside their bases appeared to mark a serious escalation in Mexico's drug war. Cartel gunmen attacked in unit-size forces armed with bulletproof vehicles, dozens of hand grenades and assault rifles.

Elsewhere in Mexico, four severed human heads were found yesterday in the western state of Michoacan. Residents found the heads, with eyes still blindfolded, lined up at the foot of a monument along with a threatening message. In the same region, police found the bodies of three young men who had been shot to death. The bodies had messages stuck to their chests with knives. And police in the border city of Nogales reported finding the bullet-ridden bodies of three men, including a city transport official, on a rural road along with three burned-out vehicles. (More Mexico stories.)