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14 clandestine graves found in northern Mexico

Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, a group of mothers searching for missing people in Mexico, claim to have helped found a mass grave of human remains.

SONORA, Mexico — Mexican authorities say they have found 14 clandestine graves in the northern border state of Sonora. 

State prosecutors say the burial pits contained bones, some burned bones and decomposing bodies. 

Investigators said Wednesday they cannot yet determine the number of bodies, but it is rare for drug cartels to take the trouble to bury a single body in more than one pit. 

Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, a group of women that has spent the last few years looking for missing people in Mexico, claims to have helped recover the human remains. 

In a tweet, the group estimated to have uncovered at least 20 bodies from the clandestine graves on Wednesday.

"That anguishing contradiction that we feel every time we find bodies in clandestine graves," the group wrote in a tweet. "Pray a lot for us that we really have new cracks in our broken hearts."

Sonora has been the scene of drug gang turf battles. The announcement comes one day after police discovered three more bodies hung from a highway overpass in the central state of Zacatecas, where 10 other bodies were found last week.

Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, or Searching Mothers of Sonora, has been calling upon government officials to intervene in the search for more human remains. 

In 2019, the women were involved in locating a mass grave of more than 40 bodies near the beach town of Rocky Point. 

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