Mexico drug violence kills 13

Mexico: Thirteen people, including two police, civilians and alleged drug gangsters, have been killed in the latest bloodshed in violence plagued Mexico, authorities said overnight Thursday. The state security agency said two traffic police were gunned down, along with the wife and child of one of the policemen, as they drove through the northeastern border state of Nuevo Leon on Wednesday.

Another three people, apparently minors, were killed in a shooting in the state capital Monterrey, and the remainder were shot dead in separate incidents elsewhere in the state.

Nearly 35,000 people have been killed in clashes between rival drug  gangs and in security operations since President Felipe Calderon launched a major military offensive against powerful drug cartels in 2006.