Forty-nine mutilated bodies have been found wrapped in plastic bags near the northern Mexican city of Monterrey

The bodies of 43 men and six women were found dumped on a road 110 miles from the US border. The killings appear to be the latest in a string of brutal murders linked to feuding drug cartels. Tens of thousands of people have died in Mexico since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed the army to combat these gangs. The discovery, near the town of San Juan, led the authorities to close a highway from Monterrey to the border city of Reynosa. The grim find comes just days after police discovered the dismembered, decapitated bodies of 18 people in two abandoned vehicles in western Mexico. Drug gangs have previously left bodies scattered in public places as warning to rivals. In September 2011, 35 corpses were found in the city of Veracruz, while 26 were discovered in Guadalajara in November.