11 bodies found in Mexico truck were of missing group: prosecutors

The 11 people, including four minors, found dead in a pickup truck in southern Mexico were part of a group reported missing last month, authorities in Guerrero state said Friday.

The victims, aged between 13 and 53, were part of a group of 17 people reported missing days ago in the town of Chilapa.

They were reported to be traveling merchants.

Their bodies were found on Wednesday night in a pickup truck on an avenue in Guerrero's capital Chilpancingo, whose mayor was beheaded last month less than a week after taking office.

Two women, four minors and five adult men from the community of Chautipan, an hour's drive west of Chilpancingo, "who were being sought by this office, have been identified," the state's prosecutors said in a statement.

General Pedro Nieto, head of the armed forces in the region, said they were believed to have been kidnapped by the Los Ardillos drug cartel.

The military had been deployed to search for them.

The vehicle was found on a highway to Acapulco, the former beachside playground of the rich and famous now blighted by criminal violence.

The bodies had been dismembered, complicating efforts to identify them.

On October 22, ten of the victims disappeared, with the remaining seven going missing four days later when they went looking for their loved ones.

Guerrero has endured years of bloodshed linked to turf wars between drug cartels, with residents often getting caught in the middle.

Criminal gangs in Mexico often use so-called "hawks" who identify and pursue strangers in the territory they control.

Last week, three other dismembered bodies were found in a vehicle in Chilpancingo.

Spiraling violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking and gangs, has seen more than 450,000 people murdered in Mexico since 2006.

The victims include Chilpancingo mayor Alejandro Arcos, whose gruesome killing in early October caused shock and anger.

Last year, 1,890 murders were recorded in Guerrero, which is home to drug production and trafficking routes, including through Pacific seaports.

On October 24, armed clashes between alleged criminals and security forces left 19 people dead, including two police officers, in the southern state.

And this Monday, gunmen killed five members of the same family in a suburb of Acapulco.

The northwestern cartel stronghold of Sinaloa has also seen a spike in violence since the July arrest of drug lord Ismael Zambada in the United States unleashed a wave of gang infighting.

Tackling the criminal violence that makes murder and kidnapping a daily occurrence in Mexico is among the major challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The former Mexico City mayor, who became the country's first woman president on October 1, has ruled out declaring "war" on drug cartels.

Instead she has pledged to continue her predecessor's strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots, while also making better use of intelligence.