Skeletal remains found in the Mexican border state of Chihuahua were taken to the lab for possible identification, officials say. Authorities in Mexico have unearthed 12 bodies in clandestine graves in the northern border state of Chihuahua.
The skeletal remains were found in 11 graves in Ascension, about 180km (110 miles) west of Ciudad Juarez, near the border with the United States, the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Thursday.
The investigators began scouring the barren site on December 18 and enlarged the search area in the following days. They eventually discovered 11 separate shallow pits into which a dozen bodies had been dumped.
The remains were taken to state forensic laboratories for possible identification and to determine, if possible, the causes of death.
Violence related to organized crime, linked to drug trafficking and migrant smuggling to the US, has battered Chihuahua for years.
Official statistics show that 3,927 people have gone missing since 1952 in the state. About 120,000 people are estimated to be missing in Mexico as a whole amid years of violence and instability.
