Scores of bodies found in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Mexican authorities, acting on an anonymous tip, on Sunday found about 50 mostly mutilated bodies dumped on the side of a highway between Monterrey, Mexico’s wealthiest city, and the U.S. border.

The bodies of at least 43 men and half a dozen women were found in plastic garbage bags near the town of Cadereyta Jimenez, the location of a large state-run oil refinery, officials in the state prosecutor’s office said. Determining the exact number of dead was made difficult by the condition of the bodies.

Army troops and police descended on the site and temporarily closed the highway, a major thoroughfare from Monterrey to the border city of Nuevo Laredo.

Sunday’s discovery apparently was linked to a string of increasingly violent attacks as rival drug-trafficking gangs battle for control of the lucrative northeastern corridor of Mexico. Gangs often leave their victims in public places as a warning to their enemies.

Earlier this month, 15 bodies were discovered on the road to Chapala, Mexico, a popular retirement community for U.S. citizens in Jalisco state. And on May 4, 23 bodies – nine hanging from a highway overpass and the other 14 decapitated – were found in Nuevo Laredo.