Authorities said Friday that seven bullet-riddled bodies were discovered in a car in eastern Mexico, a region plagued by violence between rival criminal gangs.
The bodies of five men and two women were found in a vehicle abandoned on the road in Aculzingo, a city in Veracruz state, according to a statement from the local prosecutor's office.
One of the victims was a minor, a Mexican National Guard source said.
The city of Acultzingo has long been rocked by a war between criminal gangs vying for control of the area over the theft of fuel from the national company Pemex or armed attacks on the streets.
Federal agents are working alongside their state counterparts to try to identify those responsible and ensure the safety of the population, Veracruz Governor Cuitláhuac García said on social media.
In late February, authorities found two vehicles containing decapitated bodies in Tuxpan, another city in the state. On one of the bridges where the cars were parked, a criminal gang had left a message warning another gang.
In Poza Rica, a town next to Tuxpan, thirteen bodies were discovered in refrigerators and freezers in two buildings last August.
The state of Veracruz, known for its vanilla and coffee as well as the beauty of its coastline on the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the main routes for drug traffickers to transport drugs to the United States.
According to official information, around 7,000 of a total of more than 100,000 people across the country have been missing there since 1962.