Mexico had the second-highest number of murders last year among countries considered in "armed conflict," more than Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report published on Tuesday that dealt a blow to President Enrique Pena Nieto's efforts to end a deadly drug war.
With nearly 23,000 intentional homicides in 2016, Mexico's murder tally was second only to war-torn Syria's 60,000, said Antonio Sampaio, one of the authors of the International Institute for Strategic Studies' "Armed Conflict Survey 2017."
Iraq had roughly 17,000 murders, while Afghanistan had 16,000 last year, he added . . .
