Mexican authorities have discovered another suspected mass grave during their search for 43 students who disappeared after clashes with police.
Attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam said that suspects arrested last week provided information leading to the discovery.
Karam said police officers had confessed to handing over the students to drug gangs in the southern state of Guerrerro.
"We have the people who carried out the abduction of these individuals," Karam told reporters.
The students disappeared after protests and eye witnesses saw police bundling them into vans. It is alleged that the mayor of Iguala ordered the police to hold the students, in order to prevent them from disrupting his wife’s speech.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the mayor, his wife and the police chief, all of whom have absconded. Fifty-six people have been arrested so far, including police officers, local officials and alleged members of the drugs gang.
According to AFP, an arrested leader of the Guerreros Unidos cartel claimed that he had thought the students were part of a rival criminal gang and therefore approved armed actions "in defense" of his territory.
New mass graves found as search continues for missing Mexican students (16 Oct 2014)