MEXICO CITY, April 13 (UPI) -- Officials said 28 more bodies were found in northeastern Mexico, bringing to 116 the number of dead unearthed since a probe of a bus kidnapping began.
Officials said they sent in more troops to monitor highways in Tamaulipas state where the mass graves were found, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
Seventeen people have been arrested, police said
"Organized crime, in its desperation, resorts to committing extraordinary atrocities that we cannot and should not tolerate," Jose Francisco Blake Mora, Mexico's interior minister, said after meeting with Tamaulipas Gov. Egidio Torre Cantu in Mexico City.
Before Tuesday, investigators unearthed 88 bodies from several mass graves found within a week in San Fernando amid reports buses were being stopped and passengers taken.
Authorities said they suspect the Zetas gang, which was blamed for the 2010 kidnapping and killing of 72 Central and South American migrants whose bodies were found in the same area.
DNA samples from 72 victims were taken to try to determine if they were among the dozens of people reported missing after traveling north, officials said. The Times said a U.S. citizen is thought to be among the people taken from buses.
The U.S. border is about 90 miles north of the area.
