3 bodies found near Mexico city occupied by vigilantes

Mexican police found at least three dismembered bodies wrapped in blankets near a southern city where residents have reported that 10 people disappeared during a vigilante takeover earlier this month.
The bodies of the middle-age men were found yesterday in a cemetery near Chilapa, a city in Guerrero state.
Vigilantes, who some Chilapa residents claim are linked to a local drug gang, took over the city from May 9 to 14. Families later reported that 10 people disappeared or were taken away by armed men during that time and that six others had gone missing in the preceding months, authorities have said.

Federal investigators have been sent in to search for the missing residents.
Police found the bodies yesterday after receiving an anonymous tip, but the bodies had not been identified. The men were apparently killed about five days ago, said a Guerrero state official, who was not authorised to be quoted by name.
Claiming to be "community police" from surrounding towns, more than 200 vigilantes took over Chilapa on May 9 purportedly to end widespread violence in the city that has resulted from a turf war between the rival Rojos and Ardillos drug gangs.

The vigilantes disarmed local police and forced the police chief out, saying they suspected some officers of working for Los Rojos. The vigilantes later returned the police weapons, a new chief was named and state and federal police were sent in to take charge of security.

After the vigilantes left, some residents came forward to accuse them of kidnapping residents and said they appeared to be working for Los Ardillos.
The confusion continued yesterday when Miguel Angel Godinez, the state prosecutor, said in an interview with Milenio television that there weren't any missing people, but rather 15 people were being held by the vigilantes. He said the leaders of the vigilante force are responsible for accounting for those 15 people.
The Guerrero state government said on Wednesday that it continued to negotiate with the leaders of the community police forces. It identified the head of the vigilantes as Jose Apolonio Villanueva, a communal farm leader. It said he was fed up with crime in the area and demanded that marines be sent in.