Investigators found 17 bodies in an abandoned house in a central Mexican region plagued by cartel violence, the state prosecutor’s office said, just days after seven people, including chldren, were gunned down in the same region. Ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs were used to locate the bodies last week in Irapuato in Guanajuato state, according to a statement released late Monday. Knives, machetes, pickaxes, and shovels were also found. Five of the victims — four men and one woman — have been identified as missing persons, according to prosecutors. “Their families are being informed,” a Guanajuato state official, Jorge Jimenez, told reporters. Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also Mexico’s deadliest state, according to official homicide statistics. The violent crime is linked to conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American nation. The cartel is one of several that has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administrarion. Guanajuato recorded the most homicides of any state in Mexico last year, with 3,151, 10.5% of murders nationwide, according to official figures. Civil society groups formed by relatives who denounce government inaction risk their own lives searching for remains in unmarked graves, often in areas where cartel gunmen are active.

Full report : Mexico Drug War Horror -17 Corpses Discovered In Guanajuato Home, Crime Linked to Cartel Violence.