Mexico mass grave discovered by police with at least '15 bodies'

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Burial pits were found Saturday on a hill outside Iguala, Southern Mexico, the town where the students were last seen
Witnesses claimed that the students were last seen being taken away by police in patrol cars
The students from a teacher training college disappeared last weekend after a violent clash with Iguala police officers

Published: 06:54 EST, 5 October 2014 | Updated: 13:08 EST, 5 October 2014

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Police in Mexico have found mass graves containing at least 15 charred bodies near where 43 students disappeared after a deadly police shooting last week.

The burial pits were found Saturday on a hill in a community outside Iguala, Southern Mexico, the town where the students were last seen.

Witnesses claimed that they had last been seen being led away by police. Twenty-two police officers were arrested in Guerrero today, accused of killing two students during the clashes last week.

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Mexican authorities are investigating a mass grave discovered on the outskirts of Iguala, the same city where 43 students have been missing for a week

A Mexican navy marine guards the road that leads to the site. Witnesses claimed that the students had last been seen being led away by police

A car from the forensic technician service Servicio Medico Forense (SEMEFO) is seen in the area where a mass grave was found, in Colonia las Parotas on the outskirts of Iguala, in Guerrero

Authorities uncover mass graves in Iguala, southern Mexico

Inaky Blanco, is chief prosecutor for the violence-plagued state of Guerrero.

He told a news conference in the state capital, Chilpancingo: 'We still can't talk about an exact number of bodies. We are still working at the site.'

Reports from the scene in the community of Pueblo Viejo said at least 15 bodies were exhumed from the site.

Iguala is about 120 miles (193 km) south of Mexico City in the increasingly violent state of Guerrero, the site of clashes involving students, police and armed men last week. At least six people were killed in a spate of incidents.

Guerrero Governor Angel Aguirre said earlier this week that photos showed police had taken some of the students away.

Several hundred students protested on Saturday night in front of Aguirre's residence in the state capital of Chilpancingo, expressing anger that some of their classmates may be among the bodies found in the graves.

A car was overturned and several petrol bombs were hurled at the residence perimeter, where security outposts were lightly damaged.

Authorities found the mass grave as police are scouring the area for nearly four dozen people missing after a rash of violence. Guerrero was the site of clashes involving students, police and armed men, which started in late September

The graves were found up a steep hill after some of the 30 suspects detained in the case told authorities about their location

If the students are in those pits, it would be one of the worst slaughters that Mexico has witnessed since the drug war intensified in 2006, leaving 80,000 people dead to date

The pits were found Saturday on a hill in a community outside Iguala, Southern Mexico, the town where the students were last seen. Policemen stand guard at the site where the mass grave was found

Policemen and forensic personnel holding white bags for the bodies arrive at Pueblo Viejo, in the outskirts of Iguala, Guerrero state, Mexico.

Four forensic services vans left for the morgue late on Thursday carrying bodies in silver bags

A police official said on Saturday that there was video footage of eight to 10 students being put into police trucks earlier in the week.

Twenty-two police officers were arrested in Guerrero on Sunday, accused of killing two students during the clashes last week.

Aguirre said on Saturday that a total of 30 individuals have now been detained in connection with the incidents.

Local government officials criticized the police for showing an excessive use of force with the students in Guerrero, where gangs have evolved from a fragmented drug cartel and are fighting turf wars.

Thirteen of an original group of 57 missing people re-emerged this week. Some had hidden, others had gone home. Dozens are still unaccounted for.

Many mass graves have been found across Mexico in recent years and months, the legacy of drug gang violence that has killed around 100,000 people since 2007.

Thousands of students and teachers blocked the highway between Chilpancingo and Acapulco for hours on Thursday, demanding help from federal authorities to find the missing

Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College students shout slogans during a demonstration in downtown Chilpancingo. The missing students are from a teacher training college near Chilpancingo known as a hotbed of protests

Governor Angel Aguirre appealed for calm in his state, which is mired in poverty, gang violence and social unrest

The missing students are from a teacher training college near Chilpancingo known as a hotbed of protests.

Thousands of students and teachers blocked the highway between Chilpancingo and Acapulco for hours on Thursday, demanding help from federal authorities to find the missing.

The police's links to organized crime has raised fears about the fate of the students in a country where drug cartels regularly hide bodies in mass graves.

Around 30 bodies were found in mass graves in Iguala alone this year.

'We are very worried. The families are very anxious,' said Vidulfo Rosales, a human rights lawyer representing relatives of the missing.

The United Nations has called the case 'one of the most terrible events of recent times.'