72 bodies found on Mexican ranch

The massacre victims are believed to be migrants who were bound for the U.S.

In one of the worst mass killings ever linked to Mexico’s growing drug wars, police found 72 corpses on a ranch near the Texas border on Tuesday. Officials believe the Zeta drug gang is responsible for the massacre, but the motive behind the murders is unclear. Drug gangs have recently diversified into kidnapping migrants headed for the U.S., robbing them or holding them for ransom. Migrants regularly disappear and mass graves have been found before, but police believe that 72 victims discovered this week had all been killed within the past few days. The discovery was made when an Ecuadorian man who escaped the killings contacted police.