<p>At least 19 charred corpses have been discovered in Mexico near the US border in an area where drug cartels often clash, the Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office said.</p>.<p>Police on Saturday found two burnt-out vehicles containing human remains on a country road near the town of Carmago.</p>.<p>Preliminary investigations suggested the victims had been shot, then their bodies set alight.</p>.<p>Because no bullet casings were found at the scene, police said it was possible the victims were killed in a different location.</p>.<p>Autopsies are underway, but identification of the corpses will be complicated due to their condition, a source from the prosecutor's office said.</p>.<p>Carmago, a town of about 15,000 people, borders the US state of Texas and is near the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.</p>.<p>Authorities from Nuevo Leon are cooperating with the Tamaulipas prosecutor's office.</p>.<p>The region sees frequent clashes between the Noreste cartel, which controls a part of Nuevo Leon, and the Gulf cartel, which has been active in Tamaulipas for decades.</p>.<p>In January 2019, in the neighbouring town of Miguel Aleman, 24 corpses were found, of which 15 were charred.</p>.<p>Mexico recorded 34,523 assassinations in 2020, a slight decrease in 2019's figure of 34,608, which was a record high since official tallies started.</p>.<p>Cartel-related violence has beset Mexico since 2006, with more than 300,000 killings since then.</p>
<p>At least 19 charred corpses have been discovered in Mexico near the US border in an area where drug cartels often clash, the Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office said.</p>.<p>Police on Saturday found two burnt-out vehicles containing human remains on a country road near the town of Carmago.</p>.<p>Preliminary investigations suggested the victims had been shot, then their bodies set alight.</p>.<p>Because no bullet casings were found at the scene, police said it was possible the victims were killed in a different location.</p>.<p>Autopsies are underway, but identification of the corpses will be complicated due to their condition, a source from the prosecutor's office said.</p>.<p>Carmago, a town of about 15,000 people, borders the US state of Texas and is near the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.</p>.<p>Authorities from Nuevo Leon are cooperating with the Tamaulipas prosecutor's office.</p>.<p>The region sees frequent clashes between the Noreste cartel, which controls a part of Nuevo Leon, and the Gulf cartel, which has been active in Tamaulipas for decades.</p>.<p>In January 2019, in the neighbouring town of Miguel Aleman, 24 corpses were found, of which 15 were charred.</p>.<p>Mexico recorded 34,523 assassinations in 2020, a slight decrease in 2019's figure of 34,608, which was a record high since official tallies started.</p>.<p>Cartel-related violence has beset Mexico since 2006, with more than 300,000 killings since then.</p>