An estimated 7,048 people have been killed in Mexico's drug wars this year, the government said Friday, dpa reported.
About 24,826 have died in incidents related to organized crime since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006.
The death toll was made public by Attorney General Arturo Chavez at a press conference Friday, based on a count by the National Security Cabinet. The figures include deaths from clashes between rival drug gangs and also from encounters between alleged criminals and security forces, Chavez said.
He noted that the increased presence of federal troops across the country has led many gangs to split up or lose control of their territory, or to move to different areas where they face opposition from local criminals who used to be in control there.
Actions by security forces are "forcing organizations to change their strategy," Chavez said.
In Ciudad Juarez, regarded as Mexico's most violent city with 2,660 organized-crime deaths last year, "the gangs are killing each other wherever they find each other," Chavez said.
He said the intervention by security forces was necessary to put a brake on spiralling crime, and that the government's decisions on the issue had been "correct," even though it will take time to solve the problem.
For now, he added, the government is trying to combat the social, economic and other issues that make "so many young people willing to get involved in organized crime."
Since 2006, some 78,000 people have been arrested in Mexico on drug-trafficking charges, while 400 justice officials have been sacked for their alleged complicity with the gangs.