Week's body count in Tijuana drug war 35

TIJUANA, Mexico, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Officials in Tijuana said six bodies were found Friday, raising the body count in an going gangland war to more than 30 this week.

The Baja California Attorney General's Office said five of the victims were discovered before dawn in a residential neighborhood with their faces wrapped with duct tape and their hands and feet bound.

The San Diego Union-Tribune said that unlike other discoveries this week, there was no taunting note left by the killers. Nine bodies were found Thursday after 16 had been discovered Monday, officials said.

The slayings were the latest in a surge of violence blamed on rival drug gangs battling for control of the lucrative turf once dominated by the Arellano Felix smuggling organizations.

The newspaper said the victims are by and large criminal element; however their deaths have rattled residents of normally quiet areas of the border city.