Horror in Mexico as 20 dead bodies dumped on bridge - with 5 human heads found in bag

Violence has spiked in Mexico as drug factions compete. (Image: Getty)

The bodies of 20 people, including four decapitated, have been found on a highway bridge in Mexico. Factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel - Los Chapitos and La Mayiza - are fighting each other in the region, officials say. The bodies without heads were discovered by the roadside, while 16 were inside an abandoned vehicle. Five heads were found inside a bag, and the authorities say all of the bodies showed signs of gunshot wounds. InSight Crime considers the cartel to be the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organisation in the Western Hemisphere.

Many parts of the group have established connections at the highest level of Mexico’s federal police and military using bribes, it is believed. Members are primarily involved in the international trafficking of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and heroin, transporting these mostly to the United States, which Donald Trump has promised to curb. Feliciano Castro, a Sinaloa government spokesperson, denounced the killings, adding that authorities should evaluate their organised crime strategy because of the “magnitude” of the latest violence.

Mexican drug factions specialise in the importing of drugs to the US. (Image: Getty)

“Military and police forces are working together to re-establish total peace in Sinaloa,” Castro said, according to Al Jazeera.

It comes as violence has increased in the state since the capture of cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada nearly a year ago, the Bangkok Post reported.

A bloody power struggle erupted in September last year between two rival factions after the kidnapping of the leader of one of the groups by a son of well-known capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, The Independent reports.

He was delivered to U.S. authorities via a private plane.

Local media has suggested that four decapitated bodies were left hanging from the bridge by their legs, which is a tactic by criminal gangs.

There has been no official confirmation of this, however.

Officials say that this latest discovery comes as the area has seen a spike in bloodshed that has claimed nearly 20 lives in less than 24 hours.

The streets of Culiacan city are said to have in them scattered corpses every day, and homes are riddled with bullets.

Businesses are also forced to shut up shop, and schools regularly close amid waves of violence.

Masked young men patrolling the main avenues on motorcycles are a constant menace.