Ciudad Juarez deaths top 1,000 for year

(CNN) - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso, Texas, set a record this weekend when its tally of drug-related deaths this year topped 1,000, said El Universal newspaper, citing figures from the Chihuahua state attorney general's office.

At this point last year, the newspaper said, the violence-plagued city had tallied 596 killings. It did not reach 1,000 until September 16, El Universal said.

Between 1994 and 2006, the death toll never exceeded 300.

An unprecedented wave of violence has washed over Mexico since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels shortly after coming into office in December 2006. More than 10,000 people have died in that time span, about 1,000 of them police.