7 more bodies found amid Mexico's drug violence

Police on Wednesday found 7 bodies, including six men and a woman, in northern Mexican state of Durango where hundreds of victims had been slaughtered in the raging drug violence. The corpses were unearthed in a playground in the town of El Pino, two days after they went missing. The bodies were naked and had been tortured before they were beaten to death, police said. A message from the killers was left at the site, but police would not reveal its content. About 200 bodies were found between April and May in mass graves in Durango, where two rival drug cartels vying for control. Authorities believed most of the victims were kidnapped and killed by the cartels. More than 40,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched the "war against organized crimes" in December 2006.