U.S. soldier dies in drug attack in Mexico strip bar

The hooded gunmen stormed into the bar in Ciudad Juarez as strippers were dancing for customers, sought out the six men and shot them each several times. A 26-year-old off-duty U.S. soldier who had crossed over from El Paso, Texas, was among the dead, army spokesman Enrique Torres said.

"It appears drugs were being sold at the place," Torres said of the strip joint. "The hitmen went directly for their victims, no one else."

The suspected drug hitmen escaped the bar easily, while panicking customers fled in their cars as pools of blood gathered around spent bullet cases on the bar floor.

In a separate assault near the wealthy northern city of Monterrey, around 30 suspected drug hitmen killed a municipal police chief just five days after he took up his post, and left a threatening warning for the local mayor, police said.

The heavily armed convoy killed Juan Arturo Esparza, a retired general picked over the weekend to head the police force in the municipality of Garcia.

Four other people travelling with Esparza, including two bodyguards, also died in Wednesday's attack.

Moments beforehand, the hitmen left a written message at the house of Garcia's mayor saying: "be careful."

MOST VIOLENT CITY

Across Mexico, the drug war has killed some 15,000 people since President Felipe Calderon launched his army-backed campaign against the powerful cartels in late 2006.