Northern Mexico violence heats up
MEXICO CITY – The bodies of 16 people were found in two different areas of a northern Mexico border state where a surge in violence in recent weeks has triggered civic protests over drug-fueled killings.
The Tamaulipas state government said in a statement that police found the bodies of five men and four women in an empty lot of the town of Hidalgo on Monday. Nearby, three homes had been set ablaze, it said.
Hours earlier, Tamaulipas authorities reported the bodies of four men and three women were found stuffed inside a sport utility vehicle in the port city of Tampico on Sunday. State prosecutors said the unidentified bodies were the result of killings linked to “internal disputes between presumed criminal gangs.”
Cleric is convicted in New York terror trial
NEW YORK – An Egyptian Islamic cleric whose fiery sermons before and after Sept. 11 attracted extremists to his London mosque was convicted Monday by jurors who followed a trail of evidence linking him to a kidnapping in Yemen that killed four hostages and efforts to create an al-Qaida training camp in America.
Attorney General Eric Holder championed both verdicts as a triumph for civil courts.
Jury foreman Howard Bailynson said jurors kept emotions about terrorism away, following the facts and relying on layers of government witnesses linking Mustafa to the 1998 kidnapping, including proof that a satellite phone bought by Mustafa ended up in Yemen in the hands of the hostage-takers.
Associated Press
