Another mass grave with 12 bodies discovered in northern Mexico

[News_Editor]

Another mass grave with 12 bodies discovered in northern Mexico

2011-07-27 21:09:33 GMT+7 (ICT)

MONTERREY, MEXICO (BNO NEWS) -- Mexican authorities on Tuesday discovered a new mass grave containing at least 12 bodies in the northern region of the country, officials said on Wednesday

The mass grave was found by two pedestrians on Tuesday in the municipality of Benito Juarez, which is located within the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, according to state of Nuevo Leon's Security Council.

The official report indicated that the two pedestrians were walking Tuesday afternoon and saw two decomposed bodies inside two plastic bags on the road to the Santa Lidia neighborhood, on the eastern side of the metropolitan area.

After reporting the finding, an investigation team from the Attorney's Office arrived at the scene, and up to midnight, an additional ten bodies had been found. Searches are continuing to find out if there are more bodies at the scene.

In July 2010, the Mexican army found a mass grave with 51 bodies in the same municipality after it received an anonymous report. And in late June, an eighth mass grave was found in Mexico's northern state of Durango, bringing the total number of bodies discovered in all eight mass graves in the state to 260.

Earlier in the year, authorities unearthed 183 bodies from mass graves in San Fernando municipality, in the state of Tamaulipas. The victims, which included migrants from Guatemala, are believed to have been people who refused to enlist within the rank of the 'Los Zetas' drug cartel. In the beginning of June, the Attorney General's Office announced that arrest warrants were issued against 73 individuals suspected of being involved in the mass graves.

According to government figures, a total of 15,273 drug-related crimes occurred in Mexico in 2010, while more than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon began his campaign to fight organized crime in December 2006.

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