MONTERREY, Mexico, (Reuters) – Security forces found  the body of a slain mayor  yesterday near Mexico’s richest  city, days after he was abducted by hitmen in the latest attack  on a public official from increasingly bold drug cartels.

President Felipe Calderon, who has staked his presidency on  a faltering drug war, condemned the “cowardly assassination” of  Edelmiro Cavazos, the mayor of a town on the outskirts of  Monterrey, an industrial center with close U.S. business ties.

“The murder of Edelmiro is an outrage and forces us to  redouble our efforts to fight these cowardly criminals,”  Calderon wrote in a Twitter update.

Cavazos, a 38-year-old, U.S.-educated mayor from Calderon’s  conservative National Action Party, was found dumped on a rural  road early  on Wednesday outside his town of Santiago. He was  blindfolded and his hands were tied.

Heavily armed soldiers swarmed the crime scene while  frightened residents of the popular colonial tourist town  stayed indoors, leaving normally busy streets deserted.

The attorney general in the border state of Nuevo Leon,  which includes Santiago and Monterrey, which is 140 miles (230  km) from Texas, confirmed the body discovered was Cavazos’ and  said drug cartels were behind the killing.

Nuevo Leon Governor Rodrigo Medina urged Calderon to send  more troops to Monterrey and surrounding areas, echoing a plea  published  on Wednesday from Mexican business groups in a  full-page statement in local newspapers.

Medina said this week that Cavazos, who took office last  year, was probably targeted for his efforts to clean up  Santiago’s corrupt police force, part of a nationwide effort to  curb endemic police graft. The mayor of the San Pedro Garza  Garcia municipality, part of Monterrey, said drug gangs  threatened Cavazos directly late last year.