A helicopter with 11 soldiers has crashed in northern Mexico. The soldiers were on their way to take part in the country's war on drug traffickers. Preliminary information indicates the Bell 412 crash near Santiago Papasquiaro in Durango state, "was due to bad weather conditions in the area. The troops were among the 50,000 deployed nationwide as part of efforts to derail spiralling violence by drug cartels. The federal government clampdown on drug gangs however has failed to curb the violence that has killed around 23,000 people in three and a half years.