Mexico City - Ten people were killed when a group of unidentified attackers raided a drug rehabilitation centre in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexican authorities confirmed Wednesday. Enrique Torres, a spokesman for the Joint Operations Group in the state of Chihuahua, said the attack - which also left three injured - happened at around 10:30 pm Tuesday in the Anexo de Vida facility.
Barely two weeks earlier, a similar attack claimed 18 lives at another rehab facility in the same city, in an incident that Justice officials in the state of Chihuahua linked to rivalry between drug gangs.
According to some reports, the rehabilitation centre's director and a doctor are among the dead.
When the attack happened, Ciudad Juarez and the rest of Mexico were celebrating the "Cry of Independence" to mark the beginning of annual Independence Day celebrations under tight security measures. Wednesday is a public holiday in Mexico, to mark the September 16, 1810 battle cry beginning Mexico's Independence War from Spain. Independence was finally attained on September 27, 1821.
Since last August there have been at least six attacks on drug rehabilitation centres in Mexico. The authorities believe that drug dealers sometimes seek refuge in such facilities.
Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the US state of Texas, is plagued by crime, despite the very strong military presence on its streets. Drug-related violence is rife and the city - which has great strategic importance for the drug cartels - has one of the highest murder rates of any Mexican city.
