9 hanged, 14 decapitated in border city of Nuevo Laredo

The city across from Laredo, Texas has been torn by a war between two rival drug gangs

By Tracy Connor / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Friday, May 4, 2012, 7:45 PM
Updated: Friday, May 4, 2012, 10:22 PM

Nine bodies found hanging from a bridge are seen in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, on 04 May 2012. Mexican authorities announced that the victims were five men and four women with signs of torture and were suspected members of Los Zetas drugs cartel.

Just across the border from the U.S., drug gangs slaughtered 23 people — hanging nine from a bridge and decapitating 14 more, whose heads were found stashed in coolers near the town hall.

The four men and five women discovered dangling from the Colosio Bridge in Nuevo Laredo were handcuffed, blindfolded and bore signs of torture.

A banner hanging from the bridge claimed the victims — between the ages of 25 and 30 — had committed an April 24 car bombing outside a police station, Mexican media reported.

Hours later, the 14 headless bodies were found in black bags in a gray van parked near a trade association.

The heads were in three ice chests found three hours later.

Nuevo Laredo, on the Texas border, is the site of a vicious feud between the Zeta and Gulf cartels.

Last month, another 14 bodies were found abandoned outside the mayor’s office.

More than 50,000 people have been killed since the Mexican government began a crackdown on narco-trafficking in 2006.