13 killed in Mexico as gang wars continue

hirteen people, including a police officer, were killed in Mexico's northern Chihuahua state Friday, officials said, as regional prosecutors held a security crisis meeting in the state capital.

The deaths followed the signing, by politicians and prosecutors, of a nationwide security pact in Mexico City Thursday in a bid to tackle a spike in drug-related murders and kidnappings in recent months.

Violence has escalated throughout Mexico since President Felipe Calderon, who took office at the end of 2006, launched a military crackdown on drug trafficking.

Most of Friday's deaths were in Ciudad Juarez -- across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas -- which has the highest murder toll of the country this year, with more than 800 killed.