The bodies of eight military soldiers and one ex police chief, which showed signs of torture, were left on the side of a highly trafficked highway in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, about an hour north of the tourist resort area of Acapulco. All the victims were in civilian clothes. Unofficial reports suggested the soldiers were killed while on leave. Three additional unidentified victims were found shortly later in a nearby town.

Their heads, some crushed and bound with tape, were found in black plastic bags outside of a near by shopping plaza, along with a neatly printed poster board stating:

For every one of mine you kill, I will kill ten.

Such propaganda has become a regular feature of Mexico’s increasingly violent war against drugs, which has killed over 5,500 people this year, more than double the drug related death total of 2007.

President Calderon has deployed over 40,000 soldiers across the nation since 2006. These men are at the forefront of the two-year-old campaign against the cartels that control cocaine trafficking to the U.S. as well as local production of marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine.

Members of the miltary security forces make up about 10 per cent of the overall death toll, although most victims belong to rival cartel members and the notoriously corrupt police.

The Mexican army has a much cleaner reputation - this is no doubt one of the reasons for its major role in the recent crackdown. Such a reputation also goes a long way in explaining why the decapitations have been greeted with such shock, even amognst violence hardened Mexican citizens.

The Mexican Defense Ministry vowed not to back down despite its latest losses, saying:

“They are trying to scare the military. Regardless, these are cowardly acts. The ministry promises to continue fighting.”

The army said the attacks were a sign that drug traffickers were weakening under high-profile captures of major cartel leaders and massive drug hauls in recent months.

On Sunday, federal police captured three suspected cartel hitmen in Tijuana, close to the United States. And last Saturday 13 men were arrested in the extremely wealthy suburb of Chipinque, San Pedro Garza Garcia outside of Monterrey, in northern Mexico. The thirteen men were in possession of drugs, weapons, cash and state police uniforms.

Military men, from generals to foot soldiers, in the violent border state of Baja California, have said they are being offered up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to turn a blind eye to shipments or call off anti-drugs operations.