MONTERREY, Mexico, Aug. 25 (Reuters) - Mexican marines found 72 bodies at a ranch in northern Mexico after a firefight with suspected drug hitmen in which three assailants and a marine died, the latest gruesome find in a worsening drug war.
Marines found the 58 men and 14 women on Tuesday at the ranch outside a town near the Gulf of Mexico in Tamaulipas state, a spokesman for the navy said on Wednesday.
The navy seized weapons and vehicles at the ranch but declined to give more details.
Tamaulipas has become one of Mexico’s bloodiest drug flashpoint’s since the start of the year as rival hitmen from the Gulf cartel and its former armed wing, the Zetas, fight over smuggling routes into the United States. Hitmen killed a popular candidate for elections in the state in June, Mexico’s worst political killing in 16 years.
President Felipe Calderon warned on Tuesday that more bloodshed will likely occur as his government continues its campaign to defeat violent drug cartels.
More than 28,000 people in Mexico have died in drug violence since Calderon launched his drug fight when he took office in late 2006, worrying investors and Washington.
