Tijuana (Mexico), Feb 16 (IANS/EFE) Mexican army sappers managed to safely remove a grenade taped to the neck of a man who was beaten and left tied up next to a petrol pump in this violent metropolis, authorities said.

The man was abandoned in the east Tijuana neighbourhood of Las Abejas before dawn Sunday. Once alerted, police and soldiers cordoned off a wide area while sappers went to work detaching the grenade from his neck without detonating the device.

A message left next to the man, said to be in his mid-20s, indicated he was a drug-cartel enforcer who was beaten and dumped near the petrol pump by gunmen from a rival gang.

Mexico has been plagued in recent years by violence blamed on powerful drug cartels.

Last year, according to the El Universal newspaper, was the deadliest in Mexico in the past decade, with 7,724 people killed in violent incidents attributed to organised crime groups.

So far this year, drug-related violence has claimed the lives of 1,183 people, the daily said.

--IANS/EFE

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