Nine dismembered bodies were found piled in a truck on Saturday night in the violent Mexican state of Veracruz, the governor said on Sunday, describing the crime as a clash of rival gangs.
Most of the dead were believed to be members of drug gangs, Veracruz Gov. Miguel Angel Yunes told a news conference, citing tattoos found on the bodies.
Before the discovery of the truck in Xalapa, the capital of the oil-rich state, authorities found the body of another man, who apparently was killed as he tried to flee his captors, Yunes said.
"It is clear that this was a confrontation between criminals," he said.
Escalating tension between drug gangs contributed to a record high number of murders in Mexico in 2017, and it was a particularly bloody year in Veracruz.
Murders in the Gulf state rose about 35 percent through November last year compared with the same period in 2016. The state also saw four of the 12 killings of reporters in Mexico last year.