(Al Jazeera Media Network) Twenty bodies, several of them decapitated, have been found on a highway bridge in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, Mexican authorities say, as rival drug cartel factions fight one another in the area.
The Sinaloa state prosecutor’s office reported a grisly scene on Monday: four headless corpses were found on a roadside, 16 bodies were discovered inside an abandoned vehicle near state capital Culiacan, and five human heads were found inside a bag.
Sinaloa has been gripped by months of escalated violence fuelled by rival drug traffickers vying for control of routes used to produce and transport narcotics, including fentanyl, that are often destined for the United States.
The groups are split between members loyal to Sinaloa Cartel co-founders Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
The violence peaked after the arrest in July of Zambada, who is on trial in the US.
Last year, the US announced it had arrested 76-year-old Zambada and 38-year-old Joaquin Guzman Lopez, “El Chapo” Guzman’s son, at an airport near El Paso, Texas.
Zambada accused Guzman Lopez of kidnapping him in Mexico and flying him to the US in a private plane against his will.
“El Chapo” has been serving a life sentence in the US for drug trafficking since 2019.
Later in July, Guzman Lopez pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in federal court in Chicago.
In September, Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, murder and other charges in a New York court.
The violence in Sinaloa has killed more than 1,200 people, according to official figures.
Criminal violence, most of it linked to drug trafficking, has claimed about 480,000 lives in Mexico since 2006 and left more than 120,000 people missing.
