Mexico City - Eleven people were found dead Tuesday in separate, apparent drug-related attacks in the Mexican states of Durango and Sinaloa, police said. Seven people, between the ages of 25 and 30 years, were found dead early Tuesday in the municipality of Gomez Palacio, in northern Durango state. Three bodies had gunshot wounds, while the other four appeared to have been beaten to death.
The bodies were found with their hands tied in an abandoned lot, and police said the victims were severely tortured.
Durango has recently witnessed several murders thought to be linked to drug trafficking. On Saturday, eight people were found dead in two separate places in the state, a day after police found the bodies of five men whose hands and feet had been tied.
In the municipalities of Culiacan and Los Mochis in Sinaloa, police found the bodies of four young men who had been kidnapped last Wednesday. A message left by the attackers indicated that one of the victims was a police informer.
Organized crime, which claimed more than 6,000 lives last year in Mexico, has led to 2,926 deaths since January, according to a report in El Universal newspaper.
