Mexico to dismiss 400 corrupt police officials

Some 400 corrupt police officers will be laid off in the violent northern Mexico border city of Ciudad Juarez, officials have said, in a police purge to tackle escalating crime.

Several hundred thousand Mexicans protested rising insecurity this weekend, amid a string of murders, beheadings and kidnappings, and after their leaders promised to clamp down on violence in a national security pact, including a police purge.

Mexico's police are notoriously corrupt and often involved in kidnappings and organised crime.

"Just over 400 police officers who failed a reliability test will be dismissed," said Jose Reyes, mayor of the city across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, that has registered almost 1,000 murders so far this year, out of some 3,000 nationwide.

Another 10 police commanders would also be laid off, also for failing to pass reliability tests, said an official for the Chihuahua state government.

The 400 police officers, representing one quarter of Ciudad Juarez's 1,600-strong force, underwent tests including for drugs, lying and previous offences.

Reyes said some had committed offences in other states, some had accepted bribes and others had links to organised crime.

He said that authorities would offer them work in maquiladoras -- low-cost assembly factories along the border -- in an apparent effort to prevent them from committing further criminal acts.

Drug cartels are fighting a turf war in Ciudad Juarez for control of key routes to the United States.