Even as rampant drug-related killings continue in Mexico, intensified U.S. efforts to prevent the violence from spilling across the border are succeeding, according to federal data and law enforcement officials.

Murders in key U.S. border cities dropped in the first half of 2009, new FBI crime data show, and some law enforcement officials say that trend is continuing.

Although 1,000 people were slain in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez in the first six months of 2009, according to the U.S. State Department, neighboring El Paso had four murders. That's two fewer than the six-month total in 2008, FBI data show

With one week left in 2009, murders total 13, compared with 18 in 2008, El Paso Police Sgt. Chris Mears says.

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