Arrests made in Mexico over killing of 24

Mexican authorities Thursday said they had arrested two suspects in the slayings of 24 men whose bodies were discovered in a wooded area outside Mexico City last month. Federal prosecutors said one of the suspects is a municipal police commander in the state of Mexico, which surrounds the capital on three sides. The other, identified as having led the planning for the killings, runs a security company in the same state, officials said. Authorities said the latter suspect has links to drug traffickers in the northern state of Sinaloa. The bodies were found Sept. 12 in a forested park, known as La Marquesa, that is popular with hikers and other day-trippers from Mexico City (see the La Plaza post here). The mass killing bore signs of the drug-related violence that has racked the country, leaving more than 3,500 people dead nationwide this year, according to unofficial Mexican news media tallies. But authorities have not provided details about a possible motive. A number of the dead were identified as brick masons from various Mexican states.