Mexico Drug Violence Claims Nearly 13,000 Lives

Officials Say Daeth Rate Has Declined From Previous Years

Nearly 13,000 people were killed in Mexico over the span of eight months in association with drug violence, the country's federal attorney general's office said Wednesday.

The figure covers the period from January to September of last year and is not broken down into categories such as how many victims were civilians, how many were innocent bystanders, or how many were the result of shootouts with authorities. The exacted number quoted was 12,903 for 2011.

Statistics are broken down by state and municipality which helps shed some light on the problem areas in Mexico. CNN reports from the beginning of President Felipe Calderon's term in December 2006 to September 2011, at least 47,515 people have been killed in drug-related violence. Much of the violence is heavily concentrated in certain parts of the country. The city of Ciudad Juarez had the most registered killings through September 2011, with 1,206. The town of Acapulco was another target zone, with 795 killings.

However, the attorney general’s office said the growth rate of the killings has decreased over time. The agency noted that the growth rate of killings between September 2010 to September 2011 was 11%, compared to 70% between 2009 and 2010.