Burning Atlanta

More than 25 people were slain in the first few days of August in Juárez bringing the total to more than 700 this year -- surpassing the total number of homicides in Mexico City and that of most major United States cities last year.

The violence, linked to a war between drug cartels that flared up in January, has crippled tourism to Juárez, has caused some residents to move to the United States and has led more than two dozen victims to seek medical treatment in El Paso.

Last weekend was among the bloodiest in the beleaguered city, where arrests have been few as almost all of the homicides have gone unsolved despite the presence of the military and federal police.

The recent spate of street shootings include at least seven double homicides since Friday and that of a transit officer and a police academy cadet, according to Chihuahua state police.

The Norte de Ciudad Juárez newspaper reported that Juárez has had nearly 730 homicides, surpassing the total in Mexico City for all of last year. Mexico City has about 20 million residents.

By comparison in 2007, New York City had 496 slayings, Los Angeles had 390 and Chicago 443, according to the preliminary Uniform Crime Report by the FBI.

Many of the mob-style shootings in Juárez are believed to be linked to a war between the Sinaloa drug cartel and Juárez drug cartel, known as La Linea.

The violence has continued despite the deployment of the Mexican army, a few arrests of some suspected members of hit squads, and multi-ton marijuana sei zures.

Oops. I left out this part: 

It is difficult to know how many, if any, U.S. citizens have been slain. Some victims were killed while driving vehicles with Texas plates, such as on Saturday, when a man identified at Lino Fernandez Martinez, 56, was shot and killed in a GMC Jimmy with Texas plates. He was parked outside El Mexicano beer shop. It was unknown whether Fernandez was a Texas resident.