17 bodies found in house during missing persons investigation in Mexican state plagued by cartel violence

Investigators found 17 bodies in an abandoned house in a central Mexican region plagued by cartel violence, the state prosecutor’s office said.

The remains were discovered when the property in Irapuato in Guanajuato state was searched as part of a missing persons investigation, according to a statement released late Monday.

Five of the victims have been identified as missing persons, it said.  

Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also Mexico’s deadliest state, according to official homicide statistics.

The violent crime is linked to conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American nation. The cartel is one of several that has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administrarion.

Guanajuato recorded the most homicides of any state in Mexico last year, with 3,151, 10.5% of murders nationwide, according to official figures.

Since 2006, when the military launched an anti-drug operation, Mexico has tallied about 480,000 violent deaths.

Recent violence in Guanajuato

Innocent bystanders and police officers are often casualties amid cartel turf wars in Guanajuato.

Earlier this month, officials said gunmen opened fire and killed seven people, including children, in Guanajuato, and officers found two banners with messages alluding to the Santa Rosa de Lima gang. Messages are often left on victims’ bodies by cartels seeking to threaten their rivals or punish behavior they claim violates their rules.

In February, five women and three men were shot dead in the street in Guanajuato. The month before that, security forces clashed with gunmen in the state, leaving 10 suspected criminals dead and three police officers injured.

Last December, eight people were killed and two others wounded after gunmen pulled up to a roadside stand in Guanajuato and opened fire on customers.

Two months before that, the bodies of 12 slain police officers — all bearing signs of torture and left with messages by cartels — were found in different areas of the region. The state prosecutor’s office also said the perpetrators left messages in which a cartel claimed responsibility.

The bodies were found less than 24 hours after gunmen attacked a residential center for people suffering from addictions in the same municipality, killing four people.