Thousands more troops and police are being deployed in Mexico to fight drug gangs. Already, more than twenty thousand personnel have been sent to areas around the country. This time, forces are going to fight gangs in two states bordering Texas. Duncan Kennedy reports.

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It brings the total number of federal forces fighting drug gangs around Mexico to around twenty-six thousand. The latest deployments will be sent to the North Eastern States of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. The navy will send vessels to patrol the Gulf Coast to try to intercept drug shipments.

The normally quiet city of Monterrey, capital of Nuevo Leon has seen fourteen active or former police officers killed so far this year. Many of the victims were tortured and there have been a number of beheadings.

In all of Mexico there have been more than two hundred cartel related murders this year. President Calderon has been praised inside Mexico and by the Americans for his leadership in taking on the cartels, but there have also been complaints about a lack of results.

Duncan Kennedy, BBC News, Mexico City

Listen to the words

to get a grip on
to bring under control

cartels
groups of people who agree to sell something (here, illegal drugs) at a fixed price to prevent competition and make as much money as possible

despatching
sending on a mission with speed

navy
the part of a country's military force that works at sea

deployments
groups of security forces that have been organised to go and complete a task

vessels to patrol the Gulf Coast
ships or boats to go around the Gulf Coast and make sure there is no illegal activitiy

to intercept drug shipments
to interrupt and stop supplies of drugs as they are being transported from one place to another

tortured
deliberately made to suffer a lot of pain as an act of punishment, revenge or cruelty

taking on
trying to fight

a lack of results
not much success