Dozens of headless bodies found in Mexico

Experts were today trying to identify the decapitated bodies of 12 men found in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero.

Nine bodies were found on a major boulevard in the state capital, Chilpancingo, just hours before the state governor took part in a traditional religious procession yesterday amid heavy security.

A number of the bodies found were believed to be soldiers.

Mexico has been hit by a rising wave of drug-fuelled violence, and officials estimate that more than 5,300 people have died in organised crime-related murders so far this year.

Mexican drug cartels have increasingly taken to chopping the heads off their victims, who include rival traffickers, police and soldiers. On August 28, a dozen decapitated bodies were found outside Merida, the capital of Yucatan state.

The bodies were found spread along the length of the boulevard, and nearby a sign was found that read “for everyone of mine that you kill, I will kill 10.”

Nine heads, some gagged with tape, were found in a bag nearby.

Local prosecutors said three more decapitated bodies were found in a village on the outskirts of Chilpancingo.

Two other severed heads were found on the same boulevard in Chilpancingo on December 7 alongside a sign reading: “Soldiers who are supposedly fighting crime, and they turn out to be kidnappers. This is going to happen to you.”

Scores of police and soldiers have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against the cartels in late 2006. While Mexican criminal gangs once appeared to avoid confrontations with the army, they now often openly attack soldiers.

In May last year, gunmen linked to a drug gang killed five soldiers in an ambush in the neighbouring state of Michoacan.