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State prosecutors said the skeletal remains were found in the
township of Ascencion, about 110 miles (180 kms) west of Ciudad
Juarez, which is itself across the border from El Paso, Texas.
The investigators started exploring the desolate site on Dec.
18, and in subsequent days, they expanded the search area.
They eventually found 11 separate shallow pits into which a
dozen bodies had been dumped. The remains were taken to state
forensic laboratories for possible identification and to
determine where possible the cause of death.
Drug cartels and kidnapping gangs in Mexico often use such
clandestine body dumping grounds to get rid of the corpses of
their victims or rivals. The grisly practice has contributed to
the enormous problem of missing people in Mexico, who now number
about 120,000.
The relatives of most of those missing people are largely left
to look for their loved ones by themselves, and they frequently
form volunteer search groups that go out into the desert looking
for clandestine graves. It was not known if any of those
volunteer groups had helped authorities in locating the graves
in Ascencion.
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