Violence swells in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY, March 7 (UPI) -- Guatemala is ensnared in a web of violence that leaves an average of 17 people dead every day, authorities say.

Police said Saturday at least 13 people had died in the previous 24 hours, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported. The latest victims included three teens -- ages 16, 18 and 19 -- suspected of being gang members, who were shot to death early Saturday in Guatemala City, the newspaper reported.

Also killed in the previous 24 hours were two national police officers and a suspected criminal killed in a shootout in a southwest neighborhood of the capital.

Rescue teams reported finding the bodies of three men shot to death in San Cristobal.

Two public transportation workers, a young woman and a 23-year-old man leaving his house, were also among the victims, the newspaper said.

The Herald Tribune said official figures reveal 36 public transportation workers, as well as 77 women and more than 40 youths, have been slain this year.