Acapulco, Mexico — Five charred bodies were found Tuesday in a remote village in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero after reports of a confrontation between suspected criminals, local authorities said. The state prosecutor’s office said on social media that police, soldiers and forensic experts went to the mountain community of Las Tunas to verify the reports.

“They located the bodies of five burned people,” the office said in a statement, noting the victims had not been identified. It said the bodies were transferred to the state forensic medical service.

Local news outlets published images of a presumed confrontation between criminals that took place on Monday and left several dead.

Given the difficulties in communication and accessing the area, the prosecutor’s office requested the support of federal forces in launching their investigation.

Las Tunas is part of the municipality of San Miguel Totolapan, where in October 2020 an attack by a criminal group on the local city hall left 20 dead, including the mayor and his father.

Authorities said that massacre appeared to have been the work of a drug lord, who then used social media to try to blame it on a rival gang. 

Guerrero, one of the most violent and impoverished states in the country, has recently seen several clashes between criminal cells involved in drug trafficking and production, kidnapping and extortion. 

The situation has prompted Catholic priests and bishops in the area to call for the groups to negotiate an end to the violence, an initiative endorsed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Mexico has recorded more than 420,000 murders and tens of thousands of missing persons since the end of 2006, when then-president Felipe Calderon launched a controversial anti-drug military campaign.