Authorities have uncovered a a clandestine grave containing a number of bodies on the outskirts of a southern Mexico town where 43 students disappeared after a deadly police shooting.
A Guerrero state police official at the scene of the discovery outside Iguala said authorities do not know if the bodies belong to the students because the identities could not be immediately confirmed.
"We combed the area and human remains were seen when digging began," the official said.
The 43 students disappeared last weekend after Iguala municipal officers shot at buses that the group had seized to return home near the state capital, Chilpancingo.
Three students were killed. Another three people died when police and suspected gang members shot at another bus carrying football players on the outskirts of town.
Witnesses told AFP the officers took away several students in patrol cars after the shooting.
The officers are suspected of having links to criminal gangs, raising fears about the students' fate in a country where drug cartels often bury their victims in mass graves.
Guerrero state prosecutor Inaky Blanco confirmed to local media the discovery of the grave with an unknown number of unidentified bodies.
Another police official said the pit was found thanks to an anonymous phone tip.
Authorities have detained 22 Iguala officers over the shootings and arrest warrants for the town's mayor and security chief, both of whom have disappeared.
The United Nations in Mexico urged authorities Friday to conduct an "effective" search for 43 students who vanished after a deadly police shooting last week as fears mounted about their fate.
The UN statement came as relatives of the aspiring teachers met with interior ministry officials to plead for a "serious" federal investigation to find the students in the gang-plagued southern state of Guerrero.
"The extreme gravity of the incidents linked to the disappearance of so many people make it one of the most terrible events of recent times," the UN in Mexico said.
"It compels us to make a humanitarian plea for those who have the missing to respect the life and integrity of the youngsters, to free them immediately, or give their location," it said.
The statement also called on the government to coordinate and reinforce "all measures at its disposal to conduct an effective and diligent search."
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