As announced by the Attorney General’s office, Mexican authorities discovered a mass grave on the outskirts of Igkouala in the state of Guerrero in southern part of the country.

About 43 students In this region have been missing for days, after fierce clashes with police and groups of armed gangs where six people were killed. Representative of the Prosecutor General  Jorge Valdez stated that: “In the coming hours we will determine the number of bodies found and the causes of their death,” while added that many of the dead bodies have already been exhumed.

Last week the missing students participated in demonstrations against the new education system. The student protests were suppressed with brutality by the local police so at least six people were killed by unknown source.

The state authorities arrested 22 police officers accused of the murder of two students during the conflict and local government officials criticized the police for using excessive force against students.

Just 13 out of the total 57 missing students gave signs of life the past 24 hours. They said some were hiding to escape from the police violence while others were able to return to their homes.

Igkouala city is located about 193 km south of Mexico City in the increasingly violent state of Guerrero. In recent years many mass graves have been found across Mexico in a “legacy” of the horrendous violence of drug gangs that has killed about 100,000 people since 2007.