Oaxaca: The bodies of seven people were found in an abandoned truck on a rural
road in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca, local officials said.
Police
from the town of Santo Domingo Zanatepec -- some 350 kilometers from
the state's capital city Oaxaca -- made the discovery of the as of yet
unidentified bodies, all of which showed bullet wounds, according to
authorities.
At least 30 people have been killed in the region in
recent days, local press reports say, likely because of rivalries
between drug trafficking gangs.
Mexico has suffered a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking that has intensified in recent years.
Authorities recorded 25,339 murders in 2017, the most violent year since official data-keeping began in 1997.
Since
December 2006 -- when the government launched a controversial military
anti-drug operation -- more than 200,000 murders have occurred, although
official figures do not track how many cases are linked to organized
crime.
