MEXICO CITY, Feb. 21, 2020 (BSS/XINHUA) – Mexican authorities have
discovered 24 decomposed bodies in a mass grave in a rural area of west
Michoacan state, local prosecutors said on Thursday.
The victims were killed between four and six months ago and many have
close-range gunshot wounds or even been decapitated, said Michoacan attorney
general Adrian Lopez Solis, citing forensic experts’ estimate.
The dead, aged 20-40, included five women, Solis said, adding that experts
are working to identify them based on the list of local missing persons.
The grave was discovered in a park near a construction zone in the Comanje
neighborhood of Coeneo, some 94 km from the state capital Morelia, after a
number of people allegedly involved in local drug trade were detained on Feb.
14 in the nearby town of Patzcuaro.
Michoacan has been plagued for years by drug trafficking groups battling
for control in the region.
According to the Mexican Secretariat of the Government, by the end of 2019,
more than 61,000 people had been reported and remained missing in the
country.