Eight people died in suspected drug violence in the north Mexico state of Chihuahua, with one decapitated body left hanging from a bridge, its head dumped elsewhere, police said Thursday.

`A headless body was found hanging from the Rotario bridge. The head was found in a plastic bag` in a city square, said a statement from local police in Ciudad Juarez, where more than 1,000 people have been killed this year.

Five men were also killed in the city across from El Paso, Texas, in the past 24 hours, police said.

Elsewhere, hitmen killed two police officers as they left a supermarket in state capital Chihuahua. They left a dead pig next to their bodies.

The northern state is a key battleground in turf wars between powerful drug gangs and splinter groups over trafficking routes into the United States.

Suspected drug violence has left almost 4,000 dead across the country this year, despite a vast federal crackdown including the deployment of some 36,000 soldiers, launched almost two years ago.