written by Gabriel Stargardter and Lizbeth Diaz
Tuesday October 14, 2014
MEXICO CITY - None of the 28 bodies found in a mass grave in restive southwestern Mexico belongs to a group of 43 missing students, Mexico's attorney general said on Tuesday.
The students, who are feared to have been massacred by police in league with gang members, went missing in the southwestern state of Guerrero on Sept. 26.
The discovery of a series of mass graves near the town of Iguala, where the students went missing, has sent shockwaves throughout Mexico, where around 100,000 people have died in drug-related violence since 2007.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo said none of the charred remains found in the first mass grave matched genetically with the missing students.
"What I can say is that the first mass grave we found, the very first ones from where we already have results, I can say the (remains) don't match the DNA of the families of these young people," he said.
But authorities had found another mass grave near the site, Murillo said, and were now checking those remains. He also said that 14 more police officers had been arrested following the earlier arrests of at least 22.
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Sky News, UK
written by Staff
Wednesday October 15, 2014
The bodies of 28 people found in a set of mass graves are not those of students who went missing last month, Mexican authorities have said.
The graves were unearthed outside the town of Iguala in the southern state of Guerrero.
At a news conference, Mexico's Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said: "I can tell you that in the first mass graves we found, for the very first ones we already have results, and I can confirm that there are no matches to the DNA that the families of the missing people gave us."
Experts are still testing remains recovered from other mass burial sites found near the city but no further information has been revealed.
The 43 student teachers disappeared after a confrontation with police, who are suspected of being involved in their disappearance.
Local authorities say the police were working with a local drug gang.
Benjamin Mondragon, or "Benjamon" the alleged leader of the drug gang, Guerreros Unidos, killed himself during a gunfight with Mexican security forces on Tuesday, the head of national security revealed.
"We hoped to make this person, Benjamin Mondragon, surrender. But he showed up, said something aloud and shot himself in the head," Monte Alejandro Rubido told reporters.
Meanwhile, 14 more people have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of the students.
Those arrested had "confessed to their participation, claiming they received the students and later delivered them, in between the limits of the cities of Iguala and Cocula, to the criminal gang that operates in the area, which calls itself 'Guerreros Unidos'", a top police chief revealed.
The drugs gang allegedly had ties to the family of the mayor of Iguala.
The disappearance of the students has caused outcry, with parents and relatives holding protests on the streets demanding the authorities do more to find their loved ones.
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