Mexican interior minister killed in helicopter crash

Mexican Interior Minister Francisco Blake was killed in a helicopter crash on Friday, a blow to the government as it fights powerful drug cartels.   

Television images showed the scattered wreckage of the helicopter on a hillside south of the capital, and the government confirmed that Blake and the seven others on board were killed. It did not say what caused the crash.   

Mexico is locked in a brutal conflict against drug cartels that has killed 45,000 people in the last five years and Blake was a key member of President Felipe Calderon's security team.   

Blake is the second interior minister in Calderon's presidency to be killed in an aircraft crash. The previous one three years was declared an accident.   

As interior minister, Blake was responsible for helping Calderon implement his strategy against drug gangs, as well as negotiating with opposition parties in Congress. Lawmakers held a minute's silence as a mark of respect for Blake.   

Mexico's peso and its IPC stock index lost ground on Friday after Blake's death.   

Calderon's presidency has been dominated by his decision to send in the army against drug gangs shortly after he took office in December 2006.

-Reuters