72 bodies discovered in worsening Mexican drug war

A total of 58 men and 14 women were discovered, in a ranch in the state of Tamaulipas near the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 150 kilometres from the border of Texas. The bodies were discovered after a fight on Tuesday with drug hitmen left three attackers and one marine dead.

A man suffering from a gunshot wound took the marines to the area after calling on them for help. Troops came under fire as they approached the ranch but marines seized weapons and vehicles upon nearing the area.

The recovered number of bodies is the largest ever found in the three and a half year assault on cartels. In July, 51 bodies were discovered on the outskirts of Monterrey, near Texas.

Tamaulipas is considered to be one of Mexico’s bloodiest drug points, where rival hitmen from the Gulf cartel and its former armed wing, the Zetas, battle over routes to smuggle drugs into the US. In June, a popular candidate for elections was killed, in one of the country’s worst political murders in 16 years.

Over 28,000 people have died in Mexico in relation to drug violence, since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and launched a campaign to defeat violent drug cartels.