In northern Mexico, 49 mutilated bodies have been found dumped by a roadside near the city of Monterrey.

Security officials said the 43 men and six women were decapitated and their hands cut off making identification difficult.

They blamed the killings on a conflict between rival drugs gangs. A note left with the bodies said they were killed by the Zetas cartel.

The bodies were found in Cadereyta municipality on the road from Monterrey to Reynosa on the US border. Security officials said it seems that they killed at another location a couple of days ago and their bodies dumped from a truck.

It is the latest in a series of recent massacres in northern Mexico. The Zetas have been fighting the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels for control of smuggling routes into the US.