Lawyer heads Mexico murder probe

Many of the dead were young, poor factory workers

The Mexican Government has named a special prosecutor to head a probe into the murders of hundreds of women in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Lawyer Maria Guadalupe Morfin is currently in charge of the human rights commission in the western state of Jalisco.

Mexican authorities have been accused of mishandling investigations into the women's deaths.

Many of those killed were poor factory workers snatched while travelling to and from their jobs.

US pressure

Ms Morfin's first task will be implementing a 40-point action plan to end the abduction and murder of women in the city and its surrounding areas, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Rights groups say Mexican authorities are in a "culture of denial"

She will also help co-ordinate the efforts of federal, state and local agencies.

Ms Morfin said she would be in constant contact with relatives and friends of those who had died to share information.

However she warned people hoping for solutions to the crimes they had to be realistic.

"It would be irresponsible at this time for me to guarantee that we will resolve the problem 100%," she was quoted by AP as saying.

Earlier this month a US Congressional delegation travelled to the city to meet relatives of the victims and to pressure the Mexican Government into acting over the deaths.

The London-based rights group Amnesty International has also accused Mexican police of negligence and fabricating evidence in their investigations into the killings, saying authorities were in a "culture of denial".

Handful of convictions

The murders first came to light in 1993, when authorities began finding the bodies of dead girls in dusty desert graves and roadsides in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from the US city of El Paso in Texas.

Many of the dead were poor seamstresses between the ages of 13 and 25 who worked in the city's numerous assembly lines.

Most had been brutally sexually assaulted and tortured before their deaths.

It is not known whether the murders were committed by a serial killer or killers, or if criminal gangs are responsible.

Authorities have largely discounted a theory blaming organ trafficking for the women's deaths.

Although a handful of men have been convicted in relation to some women's deaths, many say they were tortured into confessing and victims' families remain unsure if the right person has been jailed.