■ El Salvador
`Social cleansing' growing
A spike in the number of murders of gang members and criminals is raising concern that resurgent death squads are carrying out "social cleansing," the Catholic Church said on Thursday. Last year, 3,812 people were murdered, up from 2,993 killed in 2004. Church lawyers said in a report that the killings "systematically" targeted criminals. "The systematic nature of the cases leads one to believe that they have been committed to sow terror and carry out social cleansing," the report said. The Church did not say who might be responsible for the killings, but in the past members of the security forces have been blamed.
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