Six severed heads have been found lined up on a road in central Mexico in the latest horrific drug cartel bloodbath to hit the country.
The remains were first reported on Tuesday by drivers using a highway that links the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala, prosecutors said.
At the site of grisly find there was a pamphlet blaming the violence on a settling of scores between gangs that rob fuel, local media reports.
Messages are often left on victims’ bodies by cartels seeking to threaten their rivals or punish behavior they claim violates their rules.
The heads were found inside a sack and others scattered among the nearby cornfields, local reports claim.
Another head and other human remains were found in the western city of Colima, news outlets said.
The heads found in Tlaxcala were those of men, the prosecutor’s office said as it announced an investigation into the crime.
Six severed heads have been found lined up on a road in central Mexico in the latest horrific drug cartel bloodbath to hit the country. At the site of grisly find there was a pamphlet blaming the violence on a settling of scores between gangs that rob fuel, local media reports
The remains were first reported on Tuesday by drivers using a highway that links the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala, prosecutors said
The heads were found inside a sack and others scattered among the nearby cornfields, local reports claim
The discovery prompted an intense mobilization of security forces, including members of the Ixtacuixtla municipal police, the Mexican Army, and the National Guard (GN ).
The area was cordoned off to preserve evidence while the State Attorney General’s Office (FGJE) opened an investigation.
The Ixtacuixtla City Council strongly condemned the events and emphasized its coordination with state authorities.
The statement read: ‘From the very beginning, our police officers responded to the report generated through the 911 emergency number as first responders. The relevant authorities were immediately notified.
‘Since then, we have been working closely with the State Attorney General’s Office and law enforcement agencies to investigate the incident.’
Both Puebla and Tlaxcala are home to gangs that deal in drugs and fuel.
But these states are new to this kind of extreme violence more common in other parts of Mexico, which is plagued by drug-related brutality.
However in recent months bodies have been found in areas near the border between the two states.
The area was cordoned off to preserve evidence while the State Attorney General’s Office (FGJE) opened an investigation
Extreme violence – such as decapitation – is more common in northern states and along the Pacific coast. Drug cartels operate in both.
On June 30 four decapitated bodies were found hanging from a bridge in the capital of western Mexico’s Sinaloa state, part of a surge of cartel violence that killed 20 people in less than a day, authorities said.
On the same highway, officials said they found 16 more male victims with gunshot wounds, packed into a white van, one of whom was decapitated.
Authorities said the bodies were left with a note, apparently from one of the cartel factions.
While little of the note’s contents was coherent, the author of the note chillingly wrote: ‘WELCOME TO THE NEW SINALOA.’
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Decapitated bodies are hung from bridge after 20 people are slaughtered in latest Mexican massacres
In October last year a mayor was decapitated less than a week after he took office in the southwestern Mexico state of Guerrero.
Alejandro Arcos was found dead inside a pickup truck in the municipality of Chilpancingo.
Disturbing photos on social media showed Arco’s severed head lying on top of the vehicle.
And in March 2022, six heads and other body parts were found on the roof of a car on the main street of Chilapa in the southern state of Guerrero.
Around 480,000 people have died in drug-related violence around Mexico since 2006, when the government deployed federal troops to take on the country’s powerful drug cartels.
Another 130,000 are missing.