Mexican army finds seven mutilated bodies

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MEXICO CITY, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Mexican forensic investigators worked Sunday to identify seven mutilated bodies found beside a highway a day earlier, prosecutors said.

Federal troops on patrol in the western state of Michoacan found the bodies in what has the hallmarks of a drug-related massacre, CNN reported.

The bodies were dismembered and burned, state officials said.

A week ago, 17 bodies were found in the same area, which is home to a turf war among at least four drug cartels, the report said.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed federal troops to combat the cartels since 2006. Rights groups estimate at least 47,500 people have been killed in drug-related supremacy fighting since 2006.