The streets of Ciudad Juarez are empty after police became aware of an e-mail warning that this weekend will be "the bloodiest" in the Mexican border city.

The e-mail says that gunmen will open fire at malls, restaurants, nightclubs and other public places and that there will be "killings all over the city."

Ciudad Juarez Police Chief Roberto Orduna says the threats must be taken seriously and sought to reassure residents in a news release Thursday, saying police will be more vigilant.

Officials say that more than 200 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million people across from El Paso, Texas, as drug cartels fight for territory.

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On Friday, police found the bodies of five men dumped in blankets in front of a church.

Nationally, homicides related to organized crime jumped 47 percent in 2008, Mexico's attorney general said Friday in a rare confirmation of how bad violence has become.

Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora told Radio Formula that 1,378 people have been killed this year, compared with 940 in the same period last year.

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