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| - Mexican forensic experts have identified three more Guatemalans among the 19 massacre victims whose bodies were found shot and burnt near the US border, prosecutors said Friday. Five people from the Central American country -- believed to be undocumented migrants -- and two Mexicans are now known to be among those discovered on January 22. The latest three, named as "Adan C," "Ribaldo D. J" and "Edgar L," were identified through DNA testing, the prosecutor's office in the northern state of Tamaulipas said in a statement. According to investigators, 113 bullets were fired into a pick-up truck in which the charred remains were found on a rural road. On Tuesday prosecutors said 12 police officers had been arrested for their alleged involvement. Investigators are pursuing the theory that police tampered with evidence at the scene. Relatives of migrants in Guatemala have said family members who were crossing Mexico with the help of smugglers to reach the United States could be among the victims. Tamaulipas, on Mexico's Gulf coast, is the shortest route to the US but migrants risk kidnapping, extortion and murder by gangs, as well as being caught up in cartel turf wars. In August 2010, 72 undocumented migrants were killed elsewhere in Tamaulipas in an attack blamed on the Zetas cartel. Gang-related violence is rampant in Mexico, which has recorded more than 300,000 murders since the government deployed the military to fight drug trafficking in 2006. str/jla/dr/ft
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