Wikileaks cables: US Mexico drugs war fears revealed

A cable sent by the US embassy in Mexico City in January 2010 described the army as "slow and risk averse."

It said troops were not trained to patrol the streets or gather evidence to convict those detained.

However, the cables praise the Mexican government for its "unprecedented commitment" to take on the drugs gangs.

But the fight is being hampered by widespread "official corruption" and a lack of co-ordination.

According to the cable dated 29 January 2010, the deployment of troops in Ciudad Juarez - a border city at the heart of the drugs war - had failed to reduce violence.

Troops were not trained for law enforcement operations, and only 2% of of people arrested in the city were charged with any crime, it says.

The Mexican navy is seen as more effective, particularly in the operation in which the cartel leader Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed - an operation that, the cable says, was based on US intelligence; Kazinform cites BBC News.

See www.bbc.co.uk for full version.