Mexican marines found the dumped bodies of 72 people at a remote ranch in northern Mexico, the navy said Wednesday, in the biggest find of bodies in an increasingly violent drug war. The bodies were found at the ranch near the U.S. border following a shootout with suspected drug-cartel gunmen that left one marine and three suspects dead, the navy said. The cadavers of 58 men and 14 women were found near the gulf coast south of the border city of Matamoros, in Tamaulipas state, 145 kilometers from the Texas border. "The bodies were dumped around the ranch and were not buried. We are still investigating how long they had been there," a navy spokesman told reporters. "The federal government categorically condemns the barbarous acts committed by criminal organizations," the navy said in a statement. "Society as a whole should condemn these type of acts, which illustrate the absolute necessity to continue fighting crime with all rigor."
