Ivo strengthens into hurricane near Mexico

MEXICO CITY, Sep 20 (Reuters) Tropical Storm Ivo strengthened into a hurricane as it headed over the Pacific toward Mexico's Baja California peninsula, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Ivo had maximum sustained winds of 120 kph and was some 800 km south of the peninsula's beach and golf resort Los Cabos, popular with US visitors.

The latest forecasters' models showed the storm was due to curve into Baja California early next week, the center said.

Hurricane Henriette slammed into Los Cabos earlier this month, killing a foreign tourist. Two fishermen also died.

Henriette flooded northern Mexico with driving rain, raging over the farming states of Sonora and Sinaloa.

REUTERS SZ AS0904