28 April,2010 10:58 AM IST | | Agencies
More than 2,700 bullets were fired at a Mexican official in a failed attempt on her life, an official has said
Public safety secretary Minerva Bautista Gomez, who was wounded in the attack in the western state of Michoacan, "is now stable and she'll leave the hospital very soon", the official said Tuesday.
The secretary was attacked Saturday on a Michoacan highway that had been blocked with a trailer by the hitmen.
Two of her bodyguards and two civilians were killed in the attack, while Bautista and nine others were wounded.
A cartel called La Familia Michoacana operates in Michoacan, and has been involved in several fights with other criminal organisations for control of the state.
Mexico has been plagued in recent years by drug-related violence blamed on powerful cartels.
A government report released recently said 22,743 people have died since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels after he took over in December 2006.
The death toll as of April 13, 2010, is 2,904, the report said.
