Presstv | Almost 23,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico, since a US-backed crackdown on cartels began more than three years ago.

The government report of 22,743 deaths since late 2006 was given to lawmakers as debates over the controversial use of the army in street battles against drug lords continued, Interior Minister Fernando Gomez Montt confirmed on Tuesday.

The worst-hit regions were said to lie in the north of the Latin American country near the 3,200-kilometer (2,000 mile) border with the US, which is the scene of a deadly tug of war between large drug cartels over control of lucrative drug trafficking routes into the United States.

According to the report some 9,635 people were killed in 2009 alone, making it the deadliest year in the drug war.

That compared to 2,837 in 2007, the first year of President Felipe Calderon's military-led offensive, shows a dramatic rise in violence mostly attributed to gangs lashing back at security forces and infighting among cartels.

The report adds that since 2006, military officials have detained over 121,000 drug suspects, but gave no further figure for how many of those had been convicted.

The increasing number of organized-crime deaths draws a gloomy picture of Mexico's war against drugs, showing little sign of containment despite the US-backed government's heavy crackdown against gangs and drug kingpins