7 headless bodies found in central Mexico

CUERNAVACA, Mexico – Police in south-central Mexico found seven headless bodies Thursday in a vehicle parked by a highway, and later came upon their heads scattered across Morelos state.

The Morelos state prosecutor’s office said that agents found “the piled up remains of seven decapitated men” inside an SUV that had been reported stolen and was abandoned on a highway near the town of Jojutla.

“Only one head was found, placed on top of the bodies,” a statement read.

Minutes later, after receiving a phone call, agents from the prosecutor’s office found three heads on a street in the nearby town of Puente de Ixtla, and two more in Tehuixtla.

A message left with the bodies, which authorities did not divulge, indicated the murders were linked to organized crime, according to the statement.

The remains were found in an area where the army and federal police are conducting an intense counternarcotics operation dubbed Safe Morelos. Officials had previously put the toll at six.

Morelos, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Mexico City, is a popular resort area for tourists from the capital.

More than 50,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon deployed the army and federal police to crack down on the country’s powerful drug gangs in December 2006.