In brief: Army says cartel ordered massacre

MEXICO CITY – The army charged Monday that the top leaders of the hyper-violent Zetas drug cartel ordered underlings to leave 49 mutilated bodies in a northern Mexico town square, then had banners hung around the country denying responsibility in an effort to have their enemies blamed for the massacre.

The allegation came during a news conference to present the alleged Zetas local leader detained in the killings, Daniel Jesus Elizondo Ramirez. He allegedly got orders from Zetas leaders Miguel-Angel Trevino Morales and Heriberto Lazcano to dump the bodies in the town square of Cadereyta in the border state of Nuevo Leon.

Brig. Gen. Edgar Luis Villegas said Elizondo Ramirez, despite his nickname of “El Loco,” or the Crazy One, apparently got nervous about dumping the bodies in the town and instead dumped them on a highway outside Cadereyta. The bodies were found May 13.

Elizondo Ramirez tried to escape arrest Friday by tossing a hand grenade at troops before they captured him in a suburb of Monterrey, the general said. He is being held without charge at a special detention facility while prosecutors build their case.

Four dead after busy weekend on Everest

KATMANDU, Nepal – Climbers have reported seeing another body on Mount Everest, raising the death toll to four for one of the worst days ever on the world’s highest mountain.

Nepali mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha said Tuesday that the body of Chinese climber Ha Wenyi was spotted not far from where three other climbers died. They were part of what was a “traffic jam” by Everest standards – an estimated 150 climbers who rushed to try to reach the top Friday and Saturday during good weather.

Wenyi and the other victims – German Eberhard Schaaf, Nepal-born Canadian Shriya Shah and South Korean Song Won-bin – died Saturday on their way down from the summit. They are believed to have suffered exhaustion and altitude sickness, Shrestha said.