Washington - US weapons are fueling Mexico's drug violence in a deadly trade of drug money for arms, according to a report released by the US government on Thursday.

"About 87 per cent of firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced in the last five years originated in the United States," according to a report by the investigative arm of the US Congress.

The report, prepared by the Government Accountability Office (GAO,) cited figures from the Department of Justice's bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives
(ATF). It also drew on interviews with Mexican and US government and justice officials.

"These firearms have been increasingly more powerful and lethal in recent years," the report said. "Many of these firearms come from gun shops and gun shows in south- west border states."

Mexico is currently the epicentre of Latin America's drug trade, with armed gangs fighting bloody battles over the lucrative trafficking of drugs into the US. Drug-related killings in Mexico reached 3,002 since January, 76.5 per cent more than in the same period last year, according to a count published Thursday by the Mexican daily El Universal.

In 2008, the total of 6,290 dead civilians was laid at the foot of Mexico's escalating violence - more than double the figure for 2007.

Most of the guns are purchased with the proceeds of drug sales in the US. Earlier this year, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged that the US must do its part in quashing the demand for the illicit drugs that fuels the violence.

The GAO said it could not determine how many firearms are smuggled into Mexico in any given year.

In addition to faulting the weak coordination among US enforcement agencies, the GAO report said that US law enforcement assistance to Mexico, which has mostly been concentrated on the drug war, has until now failed to specifically target arms trafficking, although that is improving under US President Barack Obama.

Other barriers to halting the deadly trade come from the Mexican side. The report cited government corruption in Mexico and incomplete use of the ATF's electronic firearms tracing system.

The report said that while Mexico has launched anti-corruption initiatives, Mexican officials "acknowledge fully implementing these reforms will take considerable time, and may take years to affect comprehensive change."(dpa)