Mexican police found 19 bodies, many of them burned and shot, in a remote area near the U.S. border known for drug trafficking violence.
Authorities said the bodies were found in an uninhabited region of Tamaulipas, about 40 miles south of the city of Rio Grande, Texas.
On Friday, when they responded to a tip on a burning vehicle, officials discovered the bodies inside and in the back of a burned van.
A second charred vehicle was found at the scene.
“Preliminary investigations point to the fact that the cause of death was gunfire and that the bodies were then burned,” a prosecutor’s statement said.
“One of the lines of investigation is that the facts could have happened in a different place than the discovery.”
No bullet shells were found at the scene.
The area is known for “constant fighting between rival criminal groups trafficking drugs, weapons and migrants,” an anonymous source close to the investigation told Reuters.
With publishing cables