Mass grave with 166 skulls found in Mexico

More than 100 human skulls have been found in a mass grave in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

The 166 skulls are believed to have been buried at least two years ago, according to Veracruz state prosecutor Jorge Winckler.

Mr Winckler would not reveal the exact location of the grave for security reasons but he did say that investigators had found 32 burial pits and 114 identification cards in the field.

Clothes, personal possessions and other parts of skeletons were also found and forensic investigators are still working at the scene.

The mass grave was found after a witness told prosecutors that "hundreds of bodies" were buried in the area and Mr Winckler would not rule out the possibility of finding more.

The mass grave is one of the largest discovered in Mexico and those buried are thought to have been victims of the country's ongoing drugs war.

Mexico has seen a rapid increase in violence since the army was deployed to fight the drug cartels in 2006, with more than 200,000 people murdered since then - 28,702



last year alone.

Some 37,000 people are reported as missing.

Veracruz has seen a succession of battles between the Zetas and Jalisco drug cartels, which often bury their victims in clandestine pits similar to those found.

The state has also seen some of Mexico's worst human rights abuses and corruption scandals under former governor Javier Duarte.

Duarte, who held the job between 2010 and 2016, is awaiting trial on organised crime and money laundering charges. He has denied any wrongdoing.

In 2016 and 2017, investigators in the coastal state found 253 skulls and bodies in a number of pits near the state capital with the help of a map received by relatives of the dead.

Some of these graves are still being investigated.

In 2011, 236 bodies were found in pits in the northern state of Durango and 193 bodies were found in Tamaulipas state, north of Veracruz.

Most of those found in Tamaulipas were Mexican migrants heading to the US. They had been kidnapped and killed by the Zetas cartel.