The number of bodies found in mass graves in north-eastern Mexico recently has risen to 88, after 16 more corpses were discovered

Investigators found four new graves in San Fernando, not far from the United States border. They were tipped-off by a suspect who was being detained. Police said that he had confessed to the kidnapping and subsequent killing of dozens of victims, who were traveling through the area on buses. Recently police found 59 bodies in eight mass graves in San Fernando, in Tamaulipas state. Thirteen more bodies were discovered the following day in two other graves. Officials say that 16 people have been arrested in connection with the discovery of the mass graves, but the motive for the killings remains unclear. The gruesome find resembles the discovery in August 2010 of the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants, who were killed in the same town for refusing to join the ranks of the cartel which had abducted them. Tamaulipas state, where the mass graves where found, is at the center of a bloody battle between rival drug gangs for the control of lucrative drug-smuggling routes.