20 bodies — including four hanging from bridge near plastic bag of human heads — found in Mexico
All 20 of the victims were male and had gunshot wounds, the Sinaloa State Attorney General's Office said.
Five of the bodies were decapitated, with four of those corpses left strung up by their feet along a highway bridge near Culiacán, the largest city in Sinaloa state, authorities said.
4 Four decapitated bodies were found hanging by their feet from a bridge in Mexico over the weekend.
The 15 other bodies, including the fifth missing his head, were discovered just yards away in a van.
A plastic bag containing five human heads was found close to the bridge, officials said.
The van was plastered with a banner referencing the ongoing wars between rival drug cartels in Sinaloa, authorities said.
The victims were part of a total of 27 murders were reported in Sinaloa on Sunday, including a young man and two women in an armed attack in Culiacán.
The recent upsurge in Mexican drug violence is blamed on clashes between the warring gangs 'Los Chapitos' and 'La Mayiza,' who are fighting over strategic drug trafficking routes in Sinaloa, security sources said.
4 A further 16 bodies were discovered in a nearby van in Culiacan in the state of Sinaloa.
AFP via Getty Images
4 The Sinaloa Cartel has been struggling to retain control of the area.
AFP via Getty Images
4 The recent upsurge in violence is tied to two warring drug cartel factions with links to narco boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.
Xinhua/Shutterstock
A bloody power struggle broke out between the two factions in September, triggered by the dramatic kidnapping of one of the group's leaders by the son of infamous narco boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. The kidnapped man was handed over to US authorities by way of a private plane.
Since then, Culiacan, previously one of the more peaceful Mexican cities, has been torn apart by violence as the Sinaloa Cartel has lost control.
Mexican authorities insist they are on top of the violence and are working to crack down on organized crime.
'Military and police forces are working together to reestablish total peace in Sinaloa,' said Feliciano Castro, a Sinaloa government spokesperson, in a statement Monday.
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