CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, (Reuters) – Mexico’s army    will take over the local police force in the border city of  Ciudad Juarez where it helped quell a deadly prison riot yesterday in its widening war against drug gangs.

Soldiers poured into the city this week to restore order  after 250 people died in February in a feud between drug gangs,  which are often aided by corrupt police.

Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas,  and home to foreign-owned factories that export to the United  States, has become the main flashpoint in President Felipe  Calderon’s two-year-old war against drug smugglers.

Some of the several thousand troops expected in Ciudad  Juarez by the end of this week will take over the municipal  police, local jails and police traffic department.