The death toll of Mexico's drug war in April has risen to 1,400, the highest number of monthly killings since the beginning of the government's anti-drug campaign.

The previous record of casualties was 1,322 killings in August 2010, DPA quoted the daily newspaper Milenio as saying on Sunday.
Most of the murders in April took place in northern Mexico, which has been a scene of drug cartels battles in the recent months.
The number of bodies discovered in a series of mass graves in northern Mexico this month has reached 279 and officials expect the number to continue rising.
An estimated 450 of the dead bodies were discovered in mass graves, most of whom were migrants from countries further south of Mexico trying to gain illicit access to the United States.
More than 5,000 people have been reported missing in Mexico, and many are presumed to be victims of the drug war, according to Mexico's National Human Rights Commission.
Mexico says more than 36,000 people have been killed in violence and bloody wars between drug cartels since December 2006, when the government began its war on illicit drug trade.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon ordered the deployment of about 50,000 troops across Mexico to combat drug gangs. He has recently announced that four additional battalions would also be deployed to the northeast of the country in the near future.
Attorney General Arturo Chavez says criminal gangs and drug cartels killed more than 15,000 people in 2010, making it the deadliest year ever. (Source: PressTV)