A string of drug-related violence has left at least seven people dead in Mexico's northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Police said Monday that a burned and mutilated body was dumped in front of a police station. Authorities said police later found two men and two women shot to death outside a medical clinic.

The Associated Press said a woman's body was found in a trash bag, while a bystander was killed in a car crash caused by a police chase.

Mexico is in the midst of a brutal crime wave as drug gangs step up attacks against rival gangs and police.

More than 4,000 people have died this year in violence connected to criminal gangs in Mexico.

Fernando Gomez Mont gives his first news conference as Mexico's new interior secretary in Mexico City, 10 Nov 2008

On Monday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon named a former federal lawmaker, Fernando Gomez Mont, to replace Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino, who died in a plane crash last week in Mexico City.

Mourino was a central figure in Mr. Calderon's government and helped lead a campaign against mounting violence by drug cartels.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.