Assailants shot dead a police commander in a wealthy Monterrey suburb on Saturday, the latest in a wave of killings of law enforcement officials across Mexico. Mario Sanchez, 47, was killed by gunmen wielding automatic rifles after he finished a night shift in San Nicolas de los Garza, one of Mexico's most affluent municipalities, The Associated Press quoted Mexican media as reporting. Monterrey state police did not immediately answer calls to confirm the killing. Gunmen linked to drug-trafficking gangs have been increasingly targeting police and soldiers as President Felipe Calderon wages a national offensive against drug cartels, who make billions of dollars smuggling cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin into the United States.
