Mexican forensic experts recovered 28 charred bodies from a clandestine grave on the outskirts of Iguala where police engaged in a deadly clash with student protesters a week ago, Guerrero state's chief prosecutor said Sunday. State Prosecutor Inaky Blanco said the corpses were too badly damaged for immediate identification and he could not say whether any of the dead could be some of the 43 college students reported missing after the confrontation with police. He said genetic testing of the remains could take two weeks to two months.
Blanco said one of the 30 people detained in the case had told investigators that 17 students were taken to the grave site and killed there. But he stressed that investigators had not confirmed the person's story. State police and prosecutors have been investigating the Iguala city police for misconduct during a series of violent incidents last weekend that resulted in six shooting deaths and more than two dozen people injured.
Investigators said video showed police taking away an undetermined number of student protesters after a confrontation. Twenty-two officers were detained soon after the violence, and Blanco has said eight other people were arrested in recent days, including seven members of an organized crime gang. Blanco said Saturday that some of those arrested had provided key clues that led investigators to the unmarked burial pits on an isolated hillside on the edge of Iguala, which is about 120 miles south of Mexico City.
