The latest casualties of the increasingly-heated drug war in Mexico. And they’re direct casualties, too. The three Americans, all connected to the United States embassy, were gunned down by “drug cartel hit teams”. Gruesome:

A consulate employee and her husband, both US citizens, were murdered while driving in the violent border city, which neighbours El Paso, Texas. Their baby daughter, who was sitting in the back seat, survived the attack.

In a separate incident the husband of a Mexican consulate employee was killed while driving through the city, one of the world’s most violent. According to media reports, his two children were injured in the attack.

The White House released a statement saying Obama is “outraged”, which should be noted is pretty strong language from this administration. Especially since we recently apologized to Libya for a joke made by P.J. Crowley of the State Department. Libya. As in Muammar al-Gaddafi’s country.

Mexico’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the murders and promised to work with the US government to investigate the crime. “Mexican authorities will work tirelessly to throw light on the circumstances surrounding the crime,” it said.

I’m sure. Right after they solve the problem of corruption within their police forces and all of the non-American murders. Including two people who were, I shit you not, decapitated over the weekend. In fact, over 400 people have been killed in Juarez alone in the past two months.

In the mean time, the US State Department has advised embassy personnel to send their families back to the United States. Which, incidentally, is where the mayor of Juarez spends his nights. Really. The mayor of Juarez, Mexico, doesn’t even sleep in Mexico.