The bodies of 24 men who were bound and shot to death execution-style have been discovered by police in Mexico.
The bodies found represent one of the largest single mass executions in Mexico in recent memory.
Police and soldiers were at the scene of the crime in a rural area just west of the capital Mexico City, which has been marked by gangland slayings and land disputes between farming communities.
The killings are "without doubt" linked to organised crime, said Alberto Bazbaz, the attorney general of Mexico State, which borders Mexico City.
"The only thing we have to identify them is that they all appear to be between 20 and 35, all of them have military-style haircuts, and they were wearing clothing appropriate for a warm climate," Bazbaz said.
The mountains around Mexico City are colder, and Bazbaz said it was likely they were from the warmer, drug-plagued neighbouring states of Michoacan or Guerrero.
The federal Attorney General's Office said it was considering taking over investigations into the case, an additional indication that organised crime, which is a federal offence, was involved.
Mexico's drug cartels and criminal gangs have been slaying their rivals in increasingly large numbers, and publicly dumping their corpses, although not in the numbers involved in this case.
In late August, 12 decapitated bodies were found outside Merida, the capital of Yucatan state.
Investigators say three suspected killers detained in the Yucatan case belonged to the "Zetas," a group of hitmen for the Gulf drug cartel.
The bodies found represent one of the largest single mass executions in Mexico in recent memory.
Police and soldiers were at the scene of the crime in a rural area just west of the capital Mexico City, which has been marked by gangland slayings and land disputes between farming communities.
The killings are "without doubt" linked to organised crime, said Alberto Bazbaz, the attorney general of Mexico State, which borders Mexico City.
"The only thing we have to identify them is that they all appear to be between 20 and 35, all of them have military-style haircuts, and they were wearing clothing appropriate for a warm climate," Bazbaz said.
The mountains around Mexico City are colder, and Bazbaz said it was likely they were from the warmer, drug-plagued neighbouring states of Michoacan or Guerrero.
The federal Attorney General's Office said it was considering taking over investigations into the case, an additional indication that organised crime, which is a federal offence, was involved.
Mexico's drug cartels and criminal gangs have been slaying their rivals in increasingly large numbers, and publicly dumping their corpses, although not in the numbers involved in this case.
In late August, 12 decapitated bodies were found outside Merida, the capital of Yucatan state.
Investigators say three suspected killers detained in the Yucatan case belonged to the "Zetas," a group of hitmen for the Gulf drug cartel.
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