BBC News with Jonathan Izard
Police in Mexico have confirmed that the murder victims from a mass killing near the US border were foreign migrants. Mexican marines discovered 72 unburied corpses at a
ranch
after a gun battle with suspected gang members. From Mexico City, here is Julian Miglierini.
According to the Mexican authorities, the bodies belong to citizens of Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras and Brazil. The young man, who
tipped off
the authorities about the bodies at the ranch, is an Ecuadorian and managed to escape being killed. Authorities quoted the man as saying that the group was kidnapped by the Zetas, one of Mexico's most powerful criminal organizations, who demanded money from them. When they refused to pay, they were killed at the ranch. The Zetas, who have a strong
presence
in Tamaulipas, are known to use kidnapping and
extortion
of migrants as a means to finance their activities.
At least 50 people have been killed and some 250 wounded in a string of bomb attacks across Iraq. There were at least a dozen blasts, including car bombs and roadside bombs with almost all of them targeting the police. The heaviest casualties were after explosions in the southeastern city of Kut and in the capital Baghdad, but there were also attacks in Kirkuk, Basra, Ramadi, Karbala and Falluja. The Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said a number of conditions, including the political vacuum in Iraq and the withdrawal of United States troops were helping insurgents to grow in confidence.