50-Strong Kidnap Gang Raids Mexican Hotel

A gang of some 50 hooded gunmen raided two hotels in Monterrey, Mexico, yesterday, kidnapping 3 Mexican businessmen and a woman and 2 employees. The thugs stormed through the city's Holiday Inn and a hotel across the road, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Police couldn't reach the crime scene in time to save the kidnap victims because the gunmen had sealed off the surrounding streets with SUVs. Investigators believe the attack—brazen even by Mexican standards—is linked to a conflict between drug cartels. "The Gulf Cartel is finishing off the Zetas," one official told the Wall Street Journal. "It's total war." (More Monterrey stories.)