(Newser)
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Mexico says it is deploying extra troops and federal police to reassert its authority in two states bordering the US. Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon have become a battleground for the Gulf and Zetas cartels, and cities like Monterrey, once considered relatively safe, have seen a huge surge in violence. The government says the mission, Coordinated Operation Northeast, will also seek to prevent cartels from regrouping after the arrest of leaders, the AP reports.
One cartel boss, Carlos Montemayor, has been arrested in Mexico City. Montemayor took control of the Beltran Leyva cartel after the arrest of US citizen Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal. Police say he has told them that men under his command were responsible for the murder of 20 tourists near Acapulco last month, the Los Angeles Times reports. The men had been mistaken for members of the rival La Familia cartel.
