Murders occurred at the rate of one an hour in this country of 6.5 million people, setting a new record for the violent-prone Central American country, news reports carried by dpa said Tuesday. The report that 19 people were killed within 19 hours hit a new record. The average murder rate is one every two hours, or 12 every 24 hours. Most of the deaths occur in connection with the violent "Maras" groups - criminal gangs that have become a huge security problem that has even washed northward into the United States among Salvadorian immigrants. Attempts to quash the wave of violence have been futile. --SP 2312 Local Time 2012 GMT
