Mexico was second deadliest country in 2016

 

(CNN) It was the second deadliest conflict in the world last year, but it hardly registered in the international headlines.

As Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan dominated the news agenda, Mexico’s drug wars claimed 23,000 lives during 2016 — second only to Syria, where 50,000 people died as a result of the civil war.

“This is all the more surprising, considering that the conflict deaths [in Mexico] are nearly all attributable to small arms,” said John Chipman, chief executive and director-general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which issued its annual survey of armed conflict on Tuesday.

German Company Accused of Illegal Sales of Arms to Mexico

 

German arms company Heckler & Koch illegally sold large supplies of weapons to Mexico, a German newspaper reported Friday, citing sources at a customs agency.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The German Customs Investigation Bureau in Cologne (ZKA) said, as cited by Sueddeutsche Zeitung, that between 2003 and 2011, Heckler & Koch company delivered 9,400 rifles to Mexico.

According to the newspaper, the company made 3 million euros ($3.4 million) in the illegal sales of G36 assault rifles.

UN panel: Libyan weapons spread at alarming rate

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Libyan weapons are spreading at “an alarming rate” to new territory in west Africa and the eastern Mediterranean including Syria and the Gaza Strip where they are fueling conflicts and increasing the arsenals of armed groups and terrorists, a U.N. panel said.

In a report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Tuesday, the panel said cases of illicit transfers from Libya in violation of a U.N. arms embargo that have been proven and are still under investigation involve more than 12 countries and include heavy and light weapons such as portable air defense systems, explosives, mines, and small arms and ammunition.