MEXICO CITY — Mexican security officials found the bodies of 19 men piled into the back of a truck, the local prosecutor's office said late on Monday (July 1), with the victims allegedly linked to a gunfight between a Guatemalan criminal gang and Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel.

Five of the men showed signs of gunshot wounds, and all were found in the back of a truck wearing dark clothing, tactical vests as well as firearm magazine clips, according to the prosecutor's statement.

The grim discovery in southern Chiapas state was made near the town of La Concordia, north of Mexico's southern border with Guatemala.

A government security source in Chiapas told Reuters the victims were Guatemalan members of a criminal group fighting for territorial control in the area.

"It's a criminal group that wants to get into the area. They're Guatemalans, and this is where they're facing off against several (criminal) cells, in this case from Sinaloa," the source said.

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