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Attack called revenge by cartel for police betrayal 
Governor implies breakdown of 'some kind of deal' between drug lords, cops

 A commando of drug hitmen who overran a town near the Arizona border in an attack that left 23 people dead were apparently taking revenge on police officers for betraying an agreement, the state governor said Friday.

Sonora Gov. Eduardo Bours said authorities have received information that the assault in Cananea was ``some kind of retaliation by the hit men for their betrayal by local police, implying that they had had some kind of deal.''

Mexican officers often face the choice of ``plomo o plata,'' or ``silver or bullets,'' meaning they can either take bribes to allow traffickers to operate or risk retaliation. Drug cartels place special emphasis on killing officials who break such deals.

Meanwhile, the terror generated by the attack was palpable Friday, as residents panicked over reports of another possible assault, authorities declared a curfew and drivers raced through the streets, causing several accidents.

Though the reports proved unfounded, the city's mayor said 15 policemen have resigned since the attack.

About 50 assailants, pursued by police and army troops after Wednesday's assault, fled to the hills, ditched their vehicles, commandeered horses and forced ranch hands to serve as guides, according to an account from a man abducted by the armed gang.

Sixteen assailants were killed in the ensuing gunbattles in the rugged desert mountains outside Arizpe, 60 miles south of the U.S. border.

One man who was kidnapped said Friday that his captors identified themselves as ``Gulf people,'' an apparent reference to the Gulf drug cartel. He said they carved a ``Z'' on his back with a knife, referring to cartel's hit men who are known as ``Zetas,'' and demanded money.

The businessman, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, escaped when police began to pursue the gang.

On Friday, Mexican army troops found a body in the search for members of the drug cartel assault force, which kidnapped and killed five policemen and two Cananea residents.

Authorities say they have arrested four suspects.

Mexico is struggling to tame drug gangs responsible for a recent spate of executions, and has sent thousands of police and army troops to several states.

Mexican Federal Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said Thursday that drug gangs are relying on a flow of arms from the United States, including assault rifles, machine guns and hand grenades.

Meanwhile, the leader of a state investigative police team was shot and died Friday in Hermosillo, the Sonora state capital about 200 miles south of Cananea.

Jose Larrinaga, a spokesman for the state attorney general, said there was no information connecting the killing with the violence in Cananea and Arizpe.

Hours later, gunmen also killed the chief of criminal investigations in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, Raul Lopez Lopez.