MEXICO CITY — Mexico's new Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam says as many as 80 small to medium drug cartels are operating in the country, a vast rise from the last government assessment.

Karam told MVS Radio Tuesday that officials are working to identify all the country's drug-trafficking organizations, which vary widely in size.

The administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto took office on Dec. 1 and officials said Monday that former President Felipe Calderon had fragmented the country's cartels, making them more dangerous, by focusing on the killing and capture of cartel heads.

Murillo Karam tells MVS Radio that he calculates 60 to 80 small- and medium-size cartels are operating.

Calderon's government issued an August report naming only eight large drug cartels.