Nov 22 (Reuters) - More than 31,000 people have been killed since Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched his military campaign on drug cartels when he took office in 2006.
Following are selected incidents that took place during the past week in Mexico's escalating war on powerful drug gangs.
COLIMA - The former governor of the small Pacific coast state of Colima, a state that has avoided much of the violence plaguing other parts of the country, was gunned down at home on Sunday by unknown assailants.
POZA RICA - An manager at a U.S. oil services company Weatherford, which works with the state-run oil firm Pemex, was killed after being pursued by a group of armed men in eastern Mexico on Tuesday, police said.
MONTERREY - Gunmen shot at a vehicle carrying a local government minister in Monterrey, Mexico's richest city, on Friday, but no one was injured in the attack.
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NUEVA CIUDAD GUERRERO - Soldiers killed 11 suspected drug gang members in a shootout on Wednesday on the main street of a city bordering the United States, Universal newspaper said.
TEPETONGO - A shootout between drug traffickers and security forces with automatic weapons and grenade launchers in the central state of Zacatecas killed seven people, Milenio newspaper reported on Wednesday.
MONTERREY - Hundreds of local government officials were evacuated from Monterrey's town hall on Wednesday after receiving a telephone threat of a bomb in the building. The threat was a false alarm and no one was injured.
GUADALAJARA - Five suspected hitmen were killed in Guadalajara in western Mexico on Wednesday after state police fought gunmen on a highway on the outskirts of the city.
MEXICO CITY - Federal prosecutors began extradition proceedings on Saturday against Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez, the highest-ranking drug lord captured alive during President Felipe Calderon's term. Valdez is wanted on U.S. federal drug smuggling charges in Louisiana but may also stand trial in Mexico first before being sent to the United States.
MONTERREY - Three suspected drug gang members, including one woman, died in a fiery crash after leading soldiers on a gunfire-filled chase through the city on Saturday. (Compiled by Robin Emmott, Mica Rosenberg and Robert Campbell in Mexico City)
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