Six decapitated bodies were found on the side of a highway in Chihuahua Wednesday, state authorities said.

According to police reports, the bodies were wrapped in a black material and left next to the Creel-San Juanito highway near a gas station in the northern state’s Sierra Tarahumara region.

The deaths are believed to be linked to a feud between La Línea criminal gang and the Sinaloa Cartel, both of whom are involved in organized crime in the state, including illegal logging.

A cardboard sign signed by the suspected leader of La Línea, the armed wing of the Juárez Cartel, was found with the victims’ bodies.

The Chihuahua Attorney General’s office (FGE) attributed the deaths to the gang’s leader, César Daniel Manjarrez Alonso, who is also known as El H2.

Police took the corpses to a state morgue for identification and to establish the causes of death.

State authorities deployed a search operation to locate those responsible for the crime but no arrests were made.

La Línea is also believed to be behind a separate incident in Ciudad Juárez this week, in which a group of armed men shot at two police officers eating breakfast at a street stand.

One officer and the woman operating the stand were wounded, state authorities said.

A police operation deployed in response resulted in the arrest of eight people traveling in a vehicle in which assault weapons were found that are believed to have been used in the attack.

The attack was the 11th time this month that police in Chihuahua have been targeted by suspected members of criminal organizations.

An hour before the incident, state police and the Ciudad Juárez municipal force announced a joint operation aimed at combating aggression towards police.

Source: El Universal (sp)