MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in northern Mexico say the bullet-ridden bodies of 18 men were found after what appears to have been a shootout between members of rival drug cartels.
The Zacatecas state security department said Friday that the bodies were found in a remote, rural area of the north-central state.
The department says there is evidence the deaths resulted from a confrontation between gunmen from the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels.
Zacatecas was once dominated by the old Zetas cartel, is now being fought over by at least five cartels.
The gunbattle came two days after the bodies of two abducted police officers were found hanging from an overpass in the Zacatecas state capital and seven people were discovered shot to death in a neighboring city.
