26 bodies found in vehicles in western Mexico

Twenty-six victims of a drug feud were found inside three vehicles in Guadalajara, capital of the western Mexican state Jalisco, local police said Thursday. At around 6:00 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) Thursday, local police were informed that a person was hit near the Millennium Arches monument, a landmark building of Guadalajara that is nearly 1.5 km away from the site of both the Pan Am Games and the Guadalajara International Book Fair. But instead of one victim, police found three abandoned trucks with 26 bodies inside when they arrived at the scene. "There were a total of 26 bodies, all male, with ages ranging from 25 to 35 years old," Jalisco's State Secretary Fernando Guzman said. Most of the victims were killed by suffocation, and some of the bodies had "a symbol of Millennium and Los Zetas on the chest written with oil," he said. Guzman also said that a message had been found in one of the vehicles which referred to a feud between the Millennium and Los Zetas cartels. Millennium and Los Zetas are the two main cartels that operate in Jalisco state. Los Zetas is the second most powerful drug cartel in Mexico and is considered the most violent drug cartel and paramilitary enforcement group in Mexico by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The governor of Jalisco, Emilio Gonzalez, expressed "dismay and outrage" over the incident and called for an urgent meeting with the state's security cabinet. Jalisco Public Safety Minister Luis Carlos Najera told local media that the authorities had been informed of the discovery of the bodies Thursday morning and that all the corpses were "bound and gagged." He said the bodies have been taken to the Forensic Medical Services for official identification and to help determine those responsible for the killings. Meanwhile, he said, local police are collecting images of surveillance cameras near the sites to identify suspects. The tragedy marks a further escalation of violence in Mexico just one day after 16 burned bodies were found in Culiacan of northwestern Sinaloa state. It is a common practice among Mexican drug cartels to capture one or more people without demanding ransom and then kill them. More than 45,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched the "war against organized crime" in 2006.