Mexican officials said Wednesday almost 13,000 people died in drug violence in the first nine months of 2011, pushing the death toll since the start of a five-year military crackdown above 47,000.
The Attorney General's Office said 12,903 people were killed between January and September 2011, including 1,206 in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez and almost 800 in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco.
One year ago, the government released figures showing 34,612 people died in suspected drug violence since President Felipe Calderon started a controversial military crackdown on organized crime gangs at the end of 2006.
The latest figures were gathered from the offices of state prosecutors.
Drug violence left 15,273 people dead in 2010, according to official figures, the highest annual figure since the launch of the crackdown.
Wednesday's statement underlined that 70 percent of the suspected drug-related killings occurred in only eight of 31 states and the capital.
Local authorities have reported almost 40 gangland-style killings so far this week, including 13 bodies dumped near a gas station in the western state of Michoacan.
Rights groups have long fought to help innocent victims caught up in the violence and slammed an increase in abuses by security forces under the crackdown.