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[[File:Mexico Drug-War.jpg|left|150px]]In 2009, Mexico experienced its most violent and dangerous year of the past decade with a homicide count of at least 7,724, a toll largely attributable to the government's offensive against drug traffickers and the turf wars being waged between the rival cartels themselves. In 2008, 8481 people were murdered. Over the past five years, approximately 20,000 people have died at the hands of organized crime, primarily in the states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Baja California, Durango, Michoacán and Guerrero. At least 3,250 homicides took place in the state of Chihuahua alone in 2009, the majority of which took place in Ciudad Juárez, on the border with El Paso, Texas. Many innocent bystanders get shot. Mexico's federal government has deployed nearly 50,000 soldiers to support local police in the war against drug trafficking. <blockquote>Tijuana is among the cities hardest hit by violence as Mexico's drug cartels battle for lucrative smuggling routes past the border to supply illegal drug users in the United States. <ref> [http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/photos/photos_galleries/mexicodrugviolence/ Mexico's violent year of drugs.] </ref></blockquote>