52 shot dead in 72 hours in the world's new murder capital: MailOnline spends a nightmarish three days with police in San Salvador where the streets run with blood and fear chokes the air
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
- At least 22 people are gunned down in El Salvador every single day and 677 lives were cut short last month alone
- Forensics department in the capital San Salvador is overrun with corpses, with as many as 25 piling up overnight
- Many lie unidentified for several months and if they are never claimed, the corpses are thrown into a mass grave
- The police blame surge in violence on the breakdown of a truce between government and notorious street gangs
A 14-year-old boy alone in a dark street, a trader selling potatoes in a bustling midday market, a sister in her shop and her brother asleep in his bed.
They were all shot with a point blank bullet to the head, no questions asked.
The bodies are removed and their blood scrubbed from where they fell, no-one even whispers what they saw or heard... and life goes on in the troubled streets of El Salvador.
The gruesome deaths were only a handful of lives snubbed out during the three days MailOnline spent in the capital San Salvador - officially the world's fastest-growing murder hotspot.
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Carnage: Gato the potato seller - whose corpse is covered with a pink sheet in front of his stall - is one of around 22 people to be killed in San Salvador every single day. After just a few hours, other stall sellers were back to business as if nothing had happened
Distraught: A woman (right) weeps over the death of her mother Elba Barahona who was gunned down by gang members - as masked policemen keep watch outside the sealed-off shop where she was killed
Perilous: A police officer stands guard as his colleagues look inside an abandoned house to make sure it is not a gang's safe house - or casa destroyer - at the Santisima Trinidad neighborhood in San Salvador
The country is the smallest in Central America with a population of just six million - but, astonishingly, its murder rate is now close to that of war-torn Iraq.
Last month 677 El Salvadorean lives were violently cut short - an average of 22.6 deaths per day - according to official figures released last week.
Homicides have jumped 55.7 per cent in the first half of 2015 compared with the same period last year, with 2,865 murders so far and counting.
It is feared the country has become more dangerous than Honduras whose murder rate is around 90 per 100,000 people and where at least 7,172 gunned down in 2012.
And in Islamic State-overrun Iraq, 799 people were reportedly killed in May, with civilian deaths at 603 - even lower than El Salvador's.
It also means the central American nation has passed an alarming benchmark - with more people being killed today than during the country's bloody civil war, which ended in 1992 after 12 years.
Police officials blame the sudden surge in violence on the collapse of a truce between the government and El Salvador's powerful street gangs, which broke down in January after the country's president announced a new crackdown.
Critics say the year-long truce allowed time for the gangs, which include the notorious Barrio 18 and their rivals MS-13, to strengthen, train and acquire heavier arms than they had in the past.
Amid the alarming security breakdown, MailOnline spent three tense days with police units in San Salvador, as well as the city's overstretched forensics team which examines and takes away victims' bodies from crime scenes.
And in just 72 hours, police responded to a total of 52 gun murders - more than the UK witnesses in a whole year.
The Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) forensics department has just two investigators and one refrigerated vehicle, meaning that bodies are often left where they were slain for hours before being removed.
The violence is so common many El Salvadoreans have become used to walking past bullet-ridden bodies as they go about their daily lives.
Staff at the IML said the soaring number of murders has left them at breaking point.
One told MailOnline: 'We often arrive at crime scenes with one, sometimes more, bodies already in the back of the truck from another incident, as we don't have time to drop them off before the next murder takes place.
'The autopsies only take place the next day. It means there are often as many as 25 bodies waiting to be examined by the time the pathologists arrive in the morning.
'We are all working very hard with very little time to slow down or have a break. Every week there are more bodies. It is both alarming and exhausting.'
Most victims arrive at the morgue unnamed, and while the families of most eventually come forward, many are never identified.
A disturbing catologue kept in the IML's reception contains the contorted faces of dozens of 'unidentifed' cadavers which have arrived on the autopsy slab, some dating back several months.
Victims who are not claimed are buried in a mass grave in the city's Bermeja municipal cemetery.
Within minutes of the start of Friday morning's shift at 6am, police called in a double murder from the poor Quinonez I community of San Salvador.
Elba Barahona, 49, had apparently been opening the neighbourhood shop built on the side of her house when a gunman burst in, executing her with a bullet to the head. Her brother Job, 50, a street repair worker, was then gunned down in the bed where he had been sleeping.
Killed: Police investigators, a forensics doctor and the district attorney inspect the body of a teenager who was shot in the head and body in San Salvador, El Salvador - the world's fastest-growing murder hotspot
Death: In only the 72 hours MailOnline spent with police on the streets of San Salvador, they responded to a total of 52 gun murders - and were so busy they had to take three bodies (pictured) to the morgue in a single trip
Grief: A woman faints after identifying her husband's body at the forensics morgue, where as many as 25 bodies pile up for the pathologists overnight
Distraught: A woman cries as she picks the body of her loved one at the forensics department, where police responded to more murder calls in three nights than the UK sees in an entire year
Bitter end: A card of an unidentified body hangs from the door of a mortuary refrigerator unit, which means his body will be thrown into a mass grave in the country's Bermeja municipal cemetery
A teenage girl, identified as Ms Baranhona's daughter, sobbed hysterically outside the house as we arrived, screaming: 'Why did they do it? I'm going to kill them, I'm going to kill them'.
Police had already sealed off the area in front of the small, corrugated-roofed home, where two policemen, pistols at the ready and their faces covered with black balaclavas, stood watch.
Attacks on the police have increased in recent months, with gangs sometimes exacting revenge on officers investigating crimes by hunting them down in their homes, or even targeting members of their families.
Despite the barbarity of what had just happened, neighbours appeared to be continuing as normal with their daily routines.
A cafe on the opposite corner was still serving drinks, while on the street just metres away from where the siblings had just lost their lives, a young boy played with his toy car.
Cautiously entering the police cordon, two forensics doctors began the work of examining the bodies, still lying in the same position where they were slain.
Outside, however, police were already certain of the motive. One officer told MailOnline: 'The woman was already under investigation. She was accused of extorting money from local people on behalf of one the drugs gangs.'
The murder, he said, bore all the hallmarks of a gangland execution - but then again, so did almost every one of the killings during the 72 hours we spent with investigators last week.
In the hours that followed, another unidentified man was murdered in the Apopa district of the city, a 35-year-old man was shot dead in the nearby town of Candelaria, a 16-year-old boy was killed with 'bullets in different parts of his body' and the body of an unidentified man was found on a road close to El Salvador's coast.
All had died with a bullet to the head or neck, often followed by many more shots to the chest and body.
At noon the same day, the IML team were called to yet another incident, this time inside the bustling La Tiendona fruit and vegetable market in the centre of San Salvador.
In broad daylight and unperturbed by the crowds of shoppers, a hitman had walked up to a man known as Gato, who had a potato stall at the market, and executed him with a single shot to to the forehead.
After he slumped to the ground, the gunman pumped the man with more bullets before running off and disapearing into the crowds.
Territory: Graffiti tagged on street corners shows whether the area belongs to the Barrio 18 or MS-13 (pictured) gang - which is perhaps the most notorious in the Western Hemisphere
Some belive a year-long truce with the government gave gangs such as the notorious Barrio 18 (pictured being transferred to jail) time to strengthen, train and acquire heavier arms than they had in the past
Task force: The FBI was forced to team with law enforcement in El Salvador to take on the MS-13 gang (member pictured), which commands as many as 70,000 lethal members
Dangerous: In April this year, handcuffed members from the notorious Barrio 18 gang (pictured) were transferred to a jail where they mixed with their arch rivals from MS-13
Nearby stallholders had covered Gato's body with a sheet by the time we arrived, and were already serving customers, who paid little attention to the bloodsoaked copse lying just metres away.
One market worker, who didn't want to be identified, said: 'I saw everything. This guy just walked up to him and 'pam'. He didn't say anything or give him a chance to speak. One second he was chatting away and serving customers, the next his life is gone.'
He added: 'But there's no way I'm going to tell the police anything.I'll be next if I do.'
El Salvador's gangs have coined an onimous saying which is often sprayed on the walls of poor communities as a chilling warning to residents: Ver, Oir y Calla, which translates as 'see, hear and keep your mouth shut'.
Those who end up dead are not always involved in the gangs - some are also innocents who were unlucky enough to witness a crime, dubbed 'piedras em el camino' - 'stones in the way' - by gangsters. Others are killed for not paying extortion money, or for refusing to join the gang.
Wander into one of San Salvador's poor neighbourhoods and you could be executed simply for living in an area controlled by a rival gang.
The sister of a council worker killed recently by gang members told MailOnline she had not visited some of her closest friends for years, because they live in an area of her community under the grip of a different gang.
She said: 'They live only streets away from me, but that area is controlled by another gang to the one where I live. So we can't cross over, because I could be killed just for the fact that I've come from enemy territory.
'Sometimes gangs stop people and ask for their ID. They can see from your ID where you live, and assume you belong to the enemy gang, which has caused the death and disappearance of many people.
'They say El Salvador is in peacetime, but that doesn't mean anything to those of us living here. This is no different to a war zone.'
The younger brother of another victim, who was reportedly shot dead as went to pay extortion money to one of the gangs, told MailOnline: 'People who don't live on a daily basis with this can't understand. El Salvadoreans have to see and hear, but hush up and stay silent.
'That's why no-one will say anything. You never know who is listening. At the end of the day we have to go back to the conflict zone, and the most important thing is staying alive.'
The gangland friction was evident as MailOnline joined the 911 Police Department of The Capital on a night patrol through some of San Salvador's most dangerous suburbs.
Four policemen dressed entirely in black and touting submachine guns left their central barracks bound for the crime-ridden Soyapango neighbourhood, on the northern edge of the city.
They use ski masks to ensure their faces are entirely covered. One officer said: 'If gang members can identify a policeman, they will find him and kill him, or even murder his whole family. Some of us live in communities under gang control.
'Things are much more tense now, and we have to take many more precautions. The gangs are capable of anything.'
Inside the Santisima Trinidade district of Soyapango, slogans by the Barrio 18 gang are spraypainted on the walls of houses, a basketball court and even a children's play area.
Young teenagers, including girls, sit on street corners texting on their mobile phones. Apparently innocent, officers claim that many are so-called 'Postes', or lookouts, who warn gang leaders when police, or strangers, enter the community.
The police truck turns on powerful side lamps to shine a spotlight into dark alleyways as the vehicle moves slowly down the dusty main street.
Officers also stop to inspect abandoned buildings, which are often used by gangsters as a so-called 'casa destroyer' - places where they torture and murder rivals.
Ominous: Police officers (pictured) keep their faces covered in El Salvador, where 677 people were murdered last month, because they fear gang members will come after them and their families
Precaution: Policemen use ski masks to ensure their faces are entirely covered, with one officer saying: 'If gang members can identify a policeman, they will find him and kill him'
Revenge: Attacks on the policeman like this one patrolling the Soyapango district of the greater San Salvador area (pictured) have increased in recent months - with gangs sometimes exacting revenge on officers investigating crimes by hunting them down
Gang war: A police officer lights up an alley as they patrol the Santisima Trinidad neighborhood of which is under the control of the deadly Barrio 18 gang (graffiti pictured)
As the patrol moves into another district, Colonia 22 de Abril, graffiti now shows that the area is controlled by rival gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, perhaps the most notorious street gang in the Western Hemisphere.
Started by El Savadorian refugees in Los Angeles, the brutal gang's reach now extends through most central American nations, as well as the United States and Canada.
Their name is stamped everywhere, from lampposts to garage doors - a chilling reminder of their grip on people's lives.
Suddenly, one of the policemen jumps off the truck and orders a young man he spots inside one of the narrow alleyways to stop - then shoots twice when the suspect begins to run.
The patrol speeds towards to another alley entrance where they believe the man may try to escape then run in on foot, guns poised to shoot.
But he easily manages to disappear in the the rabbit warren of narrow alleys and cheek-by-jowl brick buildings which make this area almost impenetrable, and highly dangerous for officers in pursuit.
According to last week's statistics, 31 police officers and 12 soldiers have been killed by gangs so far this year, most in ambushes during patrols through gang-controlled shanty districts. More policemen have now died since the start of this year than the whole of last year.
But the 911 Police Department's Sub-Inspector Mendez told MailOnline his men will continue to do their work despite the soaring violence 'out of duty'.
He said: 'The police officers have a high sense of duty, to protect and serve the community. They will continue to do that, no matter how dangerous things become.
Desensitised: Violence has become so common that many El Salvadoreans (pictured) have become used to walking past bullet-ridden corpses as they go about their daily lives
Ambush: 31 police officers and 12 soldiers have been killed by gangs so far this year - most of them in gang-controlled areas like Santisima Trinidad (pictured)
Bloody: Police (pictured) blame the surge in violence on the collapse of a truce between the government and the country's street gangs, which broke down after the president announced a new crackdown
'We are all worried, not just for our safety but for the state of our country. But it won't stop us doing our job, which is to make El Salvador safer for everyone.'
For the IML forensics department, too, work has become much more perilous.
One crime scene investigator told us: 'The possibility that we get caught up in an attack in a crime scene is increasing. We are now hearing that we might have to wear bullet-proof vests to do our job. Our work was never dangerous, because we would always arrive after the crime, but now we too go to each incident with fear in our hearts.'
Saturday night's shift at the IML began with the pick up of the body of a member of the MS-13 gang, in the northern Aguileres area of San Salvador.
Before the team were able to drop off the corpse at the morgue, they received news of a double homicide in the southern Mejicanes district, this time of two Barrio 18 members.
The investigators arrived at the scene with the victim of the first homicide in the truck, finally returning to the morgue with the three bodies - from both sides of El Salvador's gang violence.
Minutes after returning to base, however, yet another murder is called in, this time on the far northern edge of San Salvador, in the San Marcos district.
The victim, this time, is a 14-year-old boy.
Arriving at the scene, an eery, deserted road, the youngster lies face down in a pool of blood. The area has already been cordoned off, but there are few onlookers and no distraught family members.
The forensics investigator looks shocked as he returns from the corpse - the boy had been shot ten times in the head.
Locals only report that they heard the shots, before finding his bullet-ridden body on the street. But nobody knows who he is or where he lived, only that he didn't come from their neighbourhood.
And police have still fewer clues about why he was so brutally murdered.
Was he a gang member himself? Had he been brought there by the culprits and, as often happens, whacked in an area where he wouldn't be recognised? Or was he a young innocent, who had found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time?
As the IML forensics team load his still-warm body into the truck, they know there is little chance that those questions will be answered, or that the boy's killers will be brought to justice.
They can only hope that, at the very least, this latest victim of El Salvador's insane spiral of violence will be identified, and not become one more nameless face in their catalogue.
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by jeremyclarcson 264