CELAYA, Mexico: Twelve bodies were found on Thursday in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, local authorities said, attributing the killings to disputes between organized crime groups.
Guanajuato, a thriving industrial center that is also home to popular tourist destinations, is currently Mexico’s most violent state, according to official homicide statistics.
The 12 bodies were found within two hours in five locations in the city of Salamanca, according to the state prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the crime.
The victims — three women and nine men — were found on roads, bridges and avenues, their bodies bearing gunshot wounds and signs of torture, while one was dismembered.
The state prosecutor’s office also said the perpetrators left messages in which a cartel claimed responsibility.
The bodies were found less than 24 hours after gunmen attacked a residential center for people suffering from addictions in the same municipality, killing four.
“This month of October has started with very high crime rates here. That makes 16 people (murdered) so far,” Salamanca Mayor Cesar Prieto told reporters.
But he said the violence affecting the city was “a temporary issue” that flares up “when one group decides to attack another.”
In Guanajuato, two cartels, the Santa Rosa de Lima and the Jalisco New Generation, are currently at war.
Hit by spiraling violence linked to organized crime, Mexico has recorded more than 450,000 murders since December 2006, when a controversial military anti-drug operation was launched.
New President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that she will present her national security plan next Tuesday.
12 bodies found in Mexico’s Guanajuato state in latest cartel violence
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12 bodies found in Mexico’s Guanajuato state in latest cartel violence
- Guanajuato, a thriving industrial center that is also home to popular tourist destinations, is currently Mexico’s most violent state
- In Guanajuato, two cartels, the Santa Rosa de Lima and the Jalisco New Generation, are currently at war
Moscow records heaviest snowfall in over 200 years
- Commuter trains in the Moscow area were delayed and cars were stuck in long traffic jams on Thursday evening
- Snow piles on the ground reached as high as 60 centimeters in some parts of the capital
MOSCOW: Russia’s capital Moscow has this month seen the largest snowfall in more than 200 years, Moscow State University meteorologists said on Thursday.
AFP images from the city of around 13 million people showed residents struggling to make their way through heavy piles of snow on the streets in its central district.
Commuter trains in the Moscow area were delayed, AFP reporters witnessed, and cars were stuck in long traffic jams on Thursday evening.
“January was a cold and unusually snowy month in Moscow,” the university said on social media.
“By January 29, the Moscow State University Meteorological Observatory had recorded almost 92 mm of precipitation, which is already the highest value in the last 203 years,” it added.
Snow piles on the ground reached as high as 60 centimeters (24 inches) in some parts of the capital on Thursday.
Snow is mostly air, meaning the level of settled snow far surpasses scientific measurements of precipitation — which measures the amount of water that has fallen.
The record snowfall was “caused by deep and extensive cyclones with sharp atmospheric fronts passing over the Moscow region,” the observatory said.
“There was much more (snow) when I was a kid, but now we practically don’t have any snow at all, there used to be much more,” Pavel, a 35-year-old bartender and Moscow resident, told AFP, grumbling about a feeling of “emptiness” in the dark, snowy winter.
Earlier this month, Russia’s far east Kamchatka region declared an emergency situation due to a massive snowstorm that left its major city partially paralyzed.
Images, widely circulated online, showed huge snow piles reaching up to the second story of buildings and people digging their way through roads as snow blanketed cars on either side.
