U.S. warns travelers of violence in northern Mexico

MEXICO CITY — The State Department has issued a new travel alert for American travelers in Mexico, warning of rising violence in northern Mexico. It stopped short of suggesting that Americans avoid traveling in the border region.

The alert, issued Monday, detailed an uptick in drug-related homicides, shootouts, kidnappings and car thefts near the border, particularly in the cities of Tijuana, Chihuahua and Ciudad Juárez. It stopped short of recommending that Americans avoid traveling in the border region.

About 200 people have been killed so far this year in Ciudad Juárez, a city of 1.3 million across from El Paso, Texas.

"These conditions are widely known here in Mexico from watching the news every day, but many tourists are simply not as aware of what goes on in other countries as they are in their own," U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said in a statement. However, the alert "does not advise Americans to avoid travel to any region or city," Garza said.

Mexico has suffered a wave of organized crime and drug-related violence in recent years that killed more than 2,500 people in 2007 alone.