(Reuters) Mexican authorities said on Wednesday they had found the remains of at least 28 people in a mass grave at a ranch in the eastern state of Veracruz, which has been wracked by violence between feuding drug gangs.
In a statement, state prosecutors said investigators and forensic experts had been sent to the ranch, which was being guarded by members of the Mexican Navy.
There was no information on the sex of the bodies, or the cause of their death, and the local government said the number of corpses discovered could rise.
“So far, we’ve exhumed 28 bodies,” Deputy District Attorney Arturo Herrera said in the statement.
The eastern state of Veracruz, a major oil-producing zone, has suffered outbreaks of violence since former President Felipe Calderon sent in the army to tame the drug cartels soon after taking office at the end of 2006.