Updated on: June 30, 2025 / 4:42 PM EDT/ CBS/AFP
Twenty bodies, several of them decapitated, were found on a highway bridge in a part of Mexico where factions of theSinaloa drug cartelare fighting each other, authorities said Monday.
Fourheadless corpseswere found by the roadside while 16 bodies were discovered inside an abandoned vehicle, the Sinaloa state prosecutor's office said.
Five human heads were found inside a bag at the scene.
All of the bodies showed signs of gunshot wounds, prosecutors said.
Local media reported that four decapitated bodies were left hanging from the bridge by their legs — a common tactic by criminal gangs — but there was no official confirmation.
Authorities said the bodies were left with a note, apparently from one of the cartel factions, though the note's contents were not immediately disclosed.
Feliciano Castro, Sinaloa government spokesperson, condemned the violent killings on Monday and said authorities needed to examine their strategy for tackling organized crime with the "magnitude" of the violence seen.
"Military and police forces are working together to reestablish total peace in Sinaloa," Castro said.
Violence has soared in the northwestern state sincethe capture in the United Statesalmost a year ago of cartel co-founderIsmael "El Mayo" Zambada.
The veteran drug traffickerclaimed he was kidnappedin Mexico by a son of notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and flown to the U.S. in a private plane against his will.
The conflict, which has leftmore than 1,200 people deadaccording to official figures, pits gang members aligned with Zambada against others loyal to El Chapo and his sons, who lead a faction called the "Chapitos."
The Chapitos have used corkscrews, electrocution and hot chiles totorture their rivalswhile some of their victims were "fed dead or alive to tigers," according to a 2023 indictment released by the U.S. Justice Department.
In recent months, bodies have appeared across Sinaloa, often left slung out on the streets or in cars with eithersombreros on their headsor pizza slices or boxes pegged onto them with knives. The pizzas and sombreros have become informal symbols for the warring cartel factions, underscoring the brutality of their warfare.
Criminal violence, most of it linked to drug trafficking, has claimed around 480,000 lives in Mexico since 2006 and left more than 120,000 people missing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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