Americas

Americas

14 headless, 9 hanging bodies found in north Mexico

05 May 2012 03:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The remains of 23 people, 14 of them decapitated and nine hanging from a bridge, were found Friday in Mexico’s border city of Nuevo Laredo, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The deaths marked the second mass killings in less than two weeks in this city in the northern state of Tamaulipas, across the border from the U.S. state of Texas.

Early Friday, the bodies of nine people, including four women, were seen hanging from a bridge by motorists on the Nuevo Laredo Highway, who then informed the police.

The victims were blindfolded and appeared to have been tortured before being killed, according to local authorities.

Near the bodies, police found a banner with writing accusing the victims of belonging to a rival drug gang and of exploding a car bomb days ago outside a local police precinct.

Near the bridge, police later found the remains of 14 decapitated bodies stuffed in black bags inside a large vehicle stationed outside the headquarters of the Association of Nuevo Laredo Customs Agents, bringing the total number of victims to 23, police said.

Local news media later reported police found 14 severed heads in abandoned coolers near Nuevo Laredo’s City Hall, that are believed to belong to the bodies found in the vehicle.

Rival drug gangs appear to be battling each other for control of Nuevo Laredo.

On April 17, authorities found the remains of 14 dismembered bodies in a vehicle parked next to City Hall, with a message allegedly from billionaire fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo " Guzman, the notorious leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel who has been hunted by authorities for more than a decade.

According to local news media, the message alluded to Sinaloa cartel rivals Los Zetas, hitmen initially hired by the Gulf cartel and trained by former members of a Mexican Army elite force.

Tamaulipas is repeatedly the scene of confrontations between former allies Los Zetas and the Gulf cartel.

From December 2006 to date, more than 47,500 people have been killed in Mexico from drug trafficking-related violence, according to figures released by the administration of President Felipe Calderon, who declared a war on organized crime when he took office.