MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican navy said Thursday it found bodies in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz that could include those of three marines and a naval cadet kidnapped by suspected drug cartel gunmen earlier this month.
Mexican drug cartels have kidnapped and killed military personnel before, but it remains a relatively rare occurrence.
The navy said in a statement that objects belonging to the kidnapped servicemen were found in a raid on a warehouse Sunday and that investigators later found the four bodies in four pits on the outskirts of the state capital.
The raid also resulted in the capture of five people suspected of participating in the abductions, authorities said.
Neither the navy nor federal security spokesman would say which cartel the suspects allegedly worked for, but the Zetas gang is known to be active in the area.
The statement said the bodies were being examined to determine whether they were the servicemen, who went missing in the first week of August. Three of them went missing while driving in a civilian car and the fourth one disappeared while off duty.
At the time, authorities said that a drug cartel was suspected in the abductions.
Two other navy personnel also disappeared earlier this summer in Veracruz. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Also Thursday, soldiers killed eight gunmen in a clash in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon, authorities said.
Soldiers were on patrol in the town of Agualeguas when they came under fire from gunmen who were inside a house, said a state official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to discuss the case.
The official said six gunmen died inside the house and soldiers killed two others on an empty lot nearby. Soldiers seized 10 automatic rifles, 2,000 rounds of ammunition and military uniforms.
Violence in Nuevo Leon state, across the border from Texas, exploded when the Zetas cartel broke away from the Gulf cartel, setting off a battle for control of the area. Their fighting has killed more than 1,000 people so far this year.
Elsewhere in Mexico, police in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco reported Thursday finding two ice chests, one of which held a man's head and the other containing what appeared to be his leg and right foot.
Guerrero state police said three other coolers were found in another part of the city with other body parts. Police were trying to determine if all five coolers contained parts of the same person.
Several other coolers containing body parts were found at other points in the city, and police were investigating whether they were all from the same body.
In addition, three men were found shot to death in city buses, including one driver.
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