Mexican authorities recover 19 bodies, some shot and burned, in remote area

Mexican authorities said over the weekend they recovered 19 bodies, some burned and shot, in a vehicle left in an uninhabited region of Tamaulipas in northern Mexico. Authorities located the bodies inside and on the back of a burnt out pickup truck after travelling to the site, the Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office said in a statement. A citizen had tipped them about a burning vehicle.

Mexican authorities said over the weekend they recovered 19 bodies, some burned and shot, in a vehicle left in an uninhabited region of Tamaulipas in northern Mexico. Authorities located the bodies inside and on the back of a burnt out pickup truck after travelling to the site, the Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office said in a statement.

A citizen had tipped them about a burning vehicle. Authorities said they found another burnt vehicle on the site, located near the border with Nuevo Leon state, but no bullet shells.

"Preliminary investigations point to the fact that the cause of death were shots from firearms, and that then the bodies were set on fire," the statement said. "One of the lines of investigation is that the events could have happened at a place other than that of the discovery."

The area is known for "constant fights between rival criminal groups that traffic drugs, arms and migrants," a source close to the investigation, who declined to be named, said.