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Three decapitated heads found in eastern Mexico

Three decapitated heads found in eastern Mexico

Mexican authorities have found severed heads of three suspected members of the violent criminal syndicate Los Zetas in the eastern state of Veracruz.

Officials said on Thursday that the heads were discovered in the trunk of a car in the state capital of Veracruz, located 423 kilometers (263 miles) east of Mexico City, on Wednesday night after police were tipped off by local residents.

A police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a note, in which the criminal group Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) claimed responsibility for the act, was found near the severed heads.

“This is going to happen to any filthy Z that goes around kidnapping and robbing innocent people,” the note read.

CJNG members fight Los Zetas for control of the city of Guadalajara in Mexico’s western state of Jalisco as well as the eastern state of Veracruz.

In recent years, drug cartels operating in Mexico have committed numerous massacres, gunfights and kidnappings as they seek to control smuggling routes into the United States.

President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December 2012, has pledged to get rid of gang violence that has claimed about 80,000 lives in Mexico since 2007. However, the steady stream of killings has continued unabated.

He has admitted that organized criminal gangs have gained the upper hand in some parts of the country, including the states of Michoacan, Mexico and Guerrero, despite increased military troops in those areas.

Official data show that every month since Nieto took office, an additional 1,000 people have died in violence linked to drug cartels as the Mexican army is still fighting gangs across large parts of the country.

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