Six severed heads found on Puebla-Tlaxcala road; police investigate

Six severed heads were found on a busy road in central Mexico, in an area not typically associated with cartel violence, as authorities opened a homicide investigation and a message attributed to a little-known gang warned rivals. The discovery, made in the early hours on a route linking Puebla and Tlaxcala, was accompanied by a pamphlet reportedly signed by a group calling itself La Barredora, or The Sweeper. Officials said the heads belonged to men, and a second head and additional remains were later found in Colima, underscoring a troubling spate of brutal violence that has unsettled regions far from the country’s usual flashpoints.

Local prosecutors in Tlaxcala said they had launched a formal inquiry into the killings, with investigators including forensic specialists dispatched to the scene to determine identity and motive. The Tlaxcala Attorney General’s Office indicated that authorities would pursue all available lines of inquiry, while federal authorities had not provided comment on the investigation as of late Tuesday. The road in question runs through a corridor that connects Puebla and Tlaxcala, two states that are generally considered less prone to the extreme...