Burned human remains found in mass graves in Mexico

Burned human remains found in mass graves in Mexico

The unidentified remains of an unknown number of people were found in mass graves about 120 miles south of Mexico City, said the attorney for the families of 43 missing students on Sunday.

Burned human remains have been found in mass graves on the edge of Iguala, Mexico by security forces investigating the role of municipal police in clashes that have occurred in town, said a lawyer for the families of 43 missing students on Sunday.

The unidentified remains were those of an undetermined number of people, said Attorney Vidulfo Rosales to the Associated Press, reports the Houston Chronicle.

The grave site is about 120 miles (200 kilometers) south of Mexico City.

Over the past several days, relatives of 37 of the missing young people have provided DNA samples, which will help determine whether the recovered remains are those of any of the students, said the attorney.

The missing students attended the Aytozinapa Normal school. Like many others in the Mexican “rural teachers college” system, the school is known for militant and radical protests.

The 43 students have been missing since last week.  A police confrontation with student protesters last weekend set off a series of violent incidents in the city, resulting in six shooting deaths.

State investigators had obtained videos showing that local police arrested an undetermined number of students after the initial clash, and took them away, said Guerrero State Prosecutor Inaky Blanco.

“It would be irresponsible” to jump to conclusions before performing tests to identify the bodies, said Blanco.

Violence is frequent in Guerrero, a southern state where poverty feeds social unrest, and drug gangs clash over territory. Earlier in the week, Guerrero Gov. Angel Aguirre had charged that organized crime had infiltrated the city government.

Investigators for the prosecutor had found that “elements of the municipal police are part of organized crime,” said Blanco. His office is searching for Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca and has alerted officials across Mexico to be on the lookout for him, said Blanco.

Eight more people have been arrested in the case, adding to the 22 Iguala city police officers detained after the police confronted the student protesters, said Blanco. Some of the eight were members of an organized crime gang, and some of them had given key clues that led to the mass grave discovery, said Blanco.

 

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