Investigators searching clandestine graves have found 32 bodies and 9 human heads in a municipality in southern Mexico where rival drug gangs have been engaged in a wave of extortion, kidnappings and turf battles.
The remains were unearthed between Tuesday and Thursday.
Soldiers and police found the grave on Tuesday at an outlaw camp in in Guerrero state after receiving a tip that people were being held at the site in 17 of 20 pits on a hill in the village of Pochahuixco, part of the municipality of Zitlala. They said on Tuesday, they rescued a kidnap victim, discovered 12 bodies and human remains in coolers. Five bodies found on Wednesday and the rest on Thursday in various states of decomposition.
Adding that the victims include 31 men and one woman, Guerrero state security spokesman Roberto Alvarez Heredia said, “The discoveries are terrible.”
Heredia said soldiers were combating the area to see if there were any more clandestine graves. The remains were taken to the state capital, Chilpancingo, to be identified. Investigators are working to identify the killers. No arrests have been made in this case.
Drug cartels have been burying their victims in hidden graves across the country for years, and authorities regularly find human remains.
Residents of the community of Tixtla, Drug cartels have been burying their victims in hidden graves across the country for years, and authorities regularly find human remains. Prosecutors are looking into whether the nine heads found in Zitlala correspond to these bodies.
At the border between the western states of Jalisco and Michoacan, for instance, 75 bodies were unearthed from 37 clandestine graves between late 2013 and early 2014.
Guerrero has seen an upsurge in gang-related violence. It has been plagued by a series of mass kidnappings, including 12 people abducted in the municipality of Ajuchitlan del Progreso last week.
The Ardillos and Los Rojos drug gangs are fighting over territory in the Zitlala region, the security spokesman said.
The government on Monday announced that it is stepping up the use of The Ardillos and Los Rojos drug gangs are fighting over territory in the Zitlala region, the security spokesman said.
