6 bodies found in Mexico, teenage girls

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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, April 17 (UPI) -- At least six of the people whose bones were found in Juarez, Mexico, were teenage girls who disappeared in 2009 and 2010, officials said Monday.

The skeletons of 12 people were found in January and February outside Ciudad Juarez. A special prosecutor announced that six had been identified by DNA while forensic scientists had been unable to get information on the other victims, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, has become a battleground for drug cartels, with the Mexican government reporting 7,640 killings between 2006 and 2011. The Times said teenagers and young women began vanishing even earlier, in 1993, with family members saying some did not return from school or trips to the store.

The six identified Monday were between the ages of 15 and 19. The prosecutor's statement gave no cause of death or suggestion on the motive.