This year has been one of the worst for the murder of women in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez since a wave of killings started there in 1993

BBC News:

Mexico's human rights ombudsman, Jose Luis Soberanes, said that 28 women had been murdered so far in 2005.

He called for a co-ordinated and tough effort by all levels of government to prevent more deaths in the city.

More than 300 women have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez. There is no generally accepted motive for the killings.

They have been variously attributed to serial killers, drug cartels and domestic violence. Some are believed to have been sexually motivated.

Many of the victims were poor working mothers employed in factories in the industrial city on the border with Texas.

There have been several arrests, but the killings have continued.

The federal government has recently become involved in the investigation in Ciudad Juarez, after Amnesty International accused it of not doing enough.

The UN has also criticised Mexico's handling of violence against women.

Human rights groups say the investigation has been hit by corruption and inefficiency at local level.

Mr Soberanes warned that the Mexican police were continuing to use torture to extract confessions and information from suspects, although now the practice was often more psychological than physical.

The killings were first exposed when bodies were found in desert graves and by city roadsides in 1993.

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