Police in Guatemala found 28 bodies on a ranch near the Mexican border in killings they said could be linked to the illegal drug trade, dpa reported.
The bodies, including those of two women, were found Sunday in La Libertad, a town in Peten province, 500 kilometres north of Guatemala City. A source close to the investigation said one person survived the slaughter.
Most of the victims had been decapitated in the killings, which occurred Saturday, police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said.
Police were investigating the involvement of Mexico's Zetas drug gang in the massacre and whether they were related to the killing Saturday also in Peten of Haroldo Leon Lara, brother of the accused drug trafficker Juan Jose Leon, who was gunned down in 2008 by the Zetas.
Haroldo Leon Lara was ambushed in San Jose as he drove with a large sum of money to pay employees of his ranch there, officials said.
Last year, President Alvaro Colom declared a state of siege in neighbouring Alta Verapaz province, deploying troops to put down drug-related violence blamed on the Zetas.
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