Mexico City  - The discovery of 12 decapitated bodies in the south-eastern Mexican state of Yucatan has shocked Mexico, Yucatan Governor Ivonne Ortega said Friday.

Over the last three months, officials had received threats that bodies would begin to appear in the state if security checkpoints were not removed, Ortega said. She added, however, that she had no plans of giving in to the blackmail.

The checkpoints are part of a widespread effort to curb organized crime and were introduced by President Felipe Calderon in late 2006.

Mexico City  - Two police officers and four members of a family were killed Thursday in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, the Public Security Ministry said.

The police officers - one from the state police and one from the federal force - were attacked as they were travelling to the town of Tecpan de Galeana to investigate an anonymous tip that four members of one family had been murdered at their home.

Mexico City  - Three people died early Wednesday as they tried to attack a military camp in San Francisco del Rincon, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the authorities said.

The attack happened shortly after midnight, and three soldiers were injured, two of them seriously.

The Mexican military had set up the camp on a fairground in San Francisco del Rincon on July 26, after several acts of violence were reported in the area.

Mexico City - Two people and 60 horses were killed in sudden heavy rain that fell in and around Mexico City, local media reported Tuesday.

The heavy rain in Mexico Valley, which holds Mexico City and several municipalities in the adjoining state of Mexico, fell for several hours on Monday and flooded hundreds of homes and main roads in Mexico City's suburbs. In some places, the floodwater was up to a metre deep, trapping vehicles whose occupants had to be rescued by the fire department.

Mexico City  - An attack by an armed commando left nine people dead and five injured at a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, police said Thursday.

The attack happened late Wednesday, while patients were attending a religious ceremony and the dead included the pastor, the authorities said.

Socorro Garcia, the pastor's wife, told the Mexican media that four masked attackers entered the centre and started shooting indiscriminately.

Mexico City  - The Mexico City government announced plans Monday to introduce a cash-reward system to combat kidnappings.

The announcement follows the kidnapping and murder of a 14-year- old boy, which along with other cases has generated a massive wave of criticism against the federal and state governments' response to the kidnappings.