Mexico City - Eight people died in an alleged drug-related attack during Independence Day celebrations in Morelia, in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, state officials said Tuesday.

The attack late Monday also left 101 people injured, at least six of whom were in very serious condition, state Civil Protection boss Carlos Mandujano said.

Michoacan Governor Leonel Godoy said organized crime groups are the main suspects in what he dubbed a "terrorist" attack.

Godoy, a member of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, said there were two grenade explosions as celebrations of the 198th anniversary of Mexican independence were starting in the balcony of the state government building.

Mexico City - Tropical Storm Hanna pounded the north coast of Haiti, leaving at least 61 people dead, officials reported.

In the flooded city of Gonaives, 27 people died in Wednesday's storm, the Haitian civil defence said as Hanna moved toward the south-eastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In the past three weeks, Haiti was also battered by Hurricanes Fay and Gustav, which left more than 160 dead.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti carried out helicopter rescues in Gonaives, saving many lives, as the water levels were as high as 3 metres in some areas.

Officials said thousands of people were left homeless or with damaged dwellings after the storm.

Mexico City - After being battered by Hurricane Gustav the Caribbean is now being hit by tropical storm Hanna, which left at least 19 dead in Haiti on Tuesday, according to local media.

Hanna, which has been nearly stationary for the past few hours, dumped rain and blasted winds at Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Ten people drowned as the storm flooded Haiti's third-largest city, Gonaives, 152 kilometres north of Port-au-Prince, where water levels reached 3 metres in some areas, reported Mayor Stephen Moise to the Haiti news agency.

President René Preval asked for international help for the 300,000 residents of the city that is completely cut off.

Mexico City  - State police in the northern Mexican state of Baja California found a tunnel under the border between Mexico and the United States that was used by drug traffickers to introduce ille

Mexico City  - The rescue of two kidnapped adults in Mexico left five dead - a police officer and four alleged criminals - Tuesday, the authorities said.

Facundo Rosas, who led the operation by the federal police in the state of Mexico adjoining the country's capital, said 20 alleged criminals were arrested alongside the gang's leader, a Mexican citizen with a criminal record in the United States.

The deaths occurred when the suspects resisted the rescue attempt and shot at police.

Mexico City  - A gang of kidnappers was audacious enough to collect the ransom for an abducted boy at a rally against increasing crimes and kidnappings in Mexico, the boy's mother said Monday.

The 12-year-old boy was abducted Thursday while playing outside the house, his mother Laura Martinez told Mexico's W Radio.

The rally against spiralling crime across the country was held on Saturday and closely monitored by local and federal police.