At least 56 organizations were discovered in unmarked joint pits in northern Mexico, not far from the border with the United States, local prosecutors announced on Saturday.
The leftovers included bodies, complete skeletons and other partial remains, as well as clothes and shots of bullets. They were exhumed earlier this week in the state of Chihuahua – which is along a path of drug trafficking and migrants in the United States – in a military assisted operation which lasted several days, according to the press release.
The prosecutors did not give any details on the possible identities of the victims.
The remains were sent to a forensic laboratory to determine the time and cause of death, in the hope that the victims can be identified, prosecutors said.
The bodies were exhumed in an area known as “El Willy”, controlled by a criminal organization called the Linea – one of the armed branches of the active Juárez cartel, according to local media.
The tombs are not rare throughout Mexico, especially in areas in the grip of the cartel’s violence. There is more 345,000 people in Mexico which has been missing, according to the country’s national register.
Last monthMexican authorities have discovered 12 bodies buried in clandestine tombs in the state of northern Chihuahua in Mexico. 12 other bodies have also been found in several tombs about two hours from Ciudad Juarez, which is through the border of El Paso, Texas.
More than 450,000 people have been murdered throughout the country since Mexico launched a major offensive against drug cartels in 2006.
One of Mexico’s biggest tombs Was reported in 2017 when more than 250 skulls were found in what seems to be a funeral field of drug mass on the outskirts of the city of Veracruz.