NINE BODIES HAVE been found on a road in eastern Mexico, officials said, the latest gruesome discovery in a country plagued by drug cartel-related violence.

The corpses were left on a highway in the municipality of Isla in the state of Veracruz, state governor Cuitlahuac Garcia said.

The region, which borders the Gulf of Mexico, is a flashpoint in turf wars between rival drug gangs, and one of the country’s most violent states.

Garcia said reinforcements were being sent to the area to hunt for the perpetrators, vowing “no impunity”.

The discovery came a day after 10 bodies were found in a sports utility vehicle left outside a town hall in the northern city of Zacatecas.

Cartels are also fighting in that area for control of drug smuggling routes to the United States, officials and experts say.

Across Mexico, more than 300,000 people have died in drug-related violence since the government deployed the army to fight the cartels in 2006.

© AFP 2022