Mexico City ? Organized-crime slayings in Mexico more than doubled in the first 11 months of 2008, and could rise even further, as powerful drug cartels fight increasingly bloody battles for control of territory, the government said Monday.

Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said gangland killings rose by 117 percent to 5,376 as compared to the first 11 months of 2007, when there were 2,477 slayings. Previously the government had not provided a total number for such killings.