Mexican troops find dozens of drug war victims' bodies

Mexican marines have found 72 bodies at a ranch after a drugs cartel shoot-out that left one soldier and three gunmen dead.

The corpses of 58 men and 14 women were found near the town of San Fernando, in northern Tamaulipas state.

It appears to be the largest dumping ground for the victims of drug cartels found in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon began an offensive against trafficking in 2006.

More than 28,000 people have died in drug-related violence over the last four years.

The shoot-out happened after marines manning a highway checkpoint were approached by a wounded man who said he had been attacked by gunmen at a nearby ranch.

The navy sent aircraft to the scene, and the gunmen opened fire and tried to flee in a convoy of vehicles. One marine and three gunmen were killed. The navy seized 21 assault rifles, shotguns and rifles, and arrested a youth.

Marines discovered the bodies when they searched the area but it was unclear whether the victims had been killed at the same time or separately.

The Mexican navy said: "The federal government categorically condemns the barbarous acts committed by criminal organisations. Society as a whole should condemn these type of acts, which illustrate the absolute necessity to continue fighting crime with all rigour."

Mexican drug cartels often use empty ranches or mine shafts to dump the bodies of executed rivals or kidnap victims. The Navy did not give details on the victims' identities, who had killed them or whether the bodies had been buried.

In May, authorities discovered 55 bodies in an abandoned mine near Taxco, a colonial-era city south of Mexico City that is popular with foreign tourists.

Then last month investigators found 51 corpses in two days in a field near a rubbish dump outside the northern city of Monterrey. Many of those found were believed to have been rival traffickers.