Zetas dump 49 headless, handless bodies on highway

Cadereyta Jimenez — Mexican police are struggling to identify the mutilated bodies of 43 men and six women dumped in a roadside park along the main highway between Monterrey and Reynosa.

Spray-painted messages on the pavement beside the bodies and on nearby masonry structures identified the grisly handiwork as that of the paramilitary drug cartel knows as the “Zetas,” a deadly gang founded by deserters from the Army's Special Forces. (click here for a report)

An anonymous tipster contacted police, who found the men and women wrapped in plastic bags, their heads and hands chopped off.

Tattoos on the remains clearly indicate they are members of a cartel that is a rival for the lucrative drug-trafficking route to the Texas border, fighting for control with elements of the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels.

The police closed the highway temporarily while working on the problem of identifying the individual bodies. It is a task complicated by the advanced dissection of the remains.