Bodies hang from overpass in Mexico as cartels battle for territory

Mexico City — In the latest sign of Mexico's staggering levels of violence, the bodies of 10 men were found hanging from a bridge on a federal highway in northwest Zacatecas state. The bodies were a sign of the brutal battles between rival drug gangs that have bloodied the state.

The men apparently were kidnapped from the rural town of San Pedro Piedra Gorda, about 20 miles from the capital city of Zacatecas, according to news reports. They were tortured and hung from a bridge, and then their assailants opened fire on the bodies, according to the reports.

One of the bodies fell to the ground before authorities arrived at the scene.

Stunned residents of San Pedro Piedra Gorda traveled to the bridge to try to identify their relatives. "They say that my brother-in-law is there, but we want to see if my father-in-law is too," one man told a police officer, according to the Jornada newspaper. Three women nearby hugged and wept, it said.

In a statement, the Zacatecas public safety agency said that an "intensive operation" was underway to find those responsible for the killings. It said that authorities would release more information as it became available.

Drug groups quietly cultivated marijuana in Zacatecas for decades. But in the past few years, the state has become a battleground, with rival narcotics groups shooting or beheading their enemies.

In July, two men were discovered crucified in the Zacatecas town of Morelos, in what was seen as an attack by organized crime. Earlier this week, the bodies of three policemen - including a local police director in Loreto city in Zacatecas - were found just days after they were kidnapped by armed men, local media reported.

On Friday, the public safety agency Secretaría de Seguridad Pública Zacatecas said that it was investigating reports of two trash bags containing human remains in the city of Fresnillo.

The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, as well as smaller groups, are fighting to control the crucial highways in Zacatecas used to send drugs to the U.S. border.

Analysts say drug groups use the grisly tactic of hanging bodies from bridges to intimidate their enemies. The tactic first appeared more than a decade ago. It had declined in the past few years, but there are new signs of gruesome public violence in some areas, such as Zacatecas.