Body parts are left strewn around capital of Mexico state

A violent drug cartel, which has dominated rural areas for years, is suspected; it may now be targeting the city.

TOLUCA, Mexico — A violent drug cartel is suspected of leaving a severed human leg found hanging from a pedestrian bridge

Wednesday in Toluca, just west of Mexico City. Before the day was out, parts of at least two bodies had turned up around the city.

At the bridge, the trunk of the body was left on the street below, near the city’s center, along with handwritten placards signed by the Familia Michoacana cartel.

Other parts of the body were found later in another neighborhood, also with handwritten signs nearby. The victim was apparently a man between 35 and 40 years old.

Then parts of at least one other body were found elsewhere in the city.

Police discovered a dismembered body in a neighborhood on the city’s east side, along with a sign similar to those in the first case.

Later, in an industrial neighborhood on the north side, parts of a body were found in a burning car. Authorities were investigating whether they belonged to the second dismembered body.

The mayor of Toluca, which is the capital of Mexico state, appealed for calm. The Familia Michoacana has dominated rural areas in the state for years but may now be trying to take over the capital.

“The issue of crime brings us all together, and we all have to fight it,” said Mayor Raymundo Martínez Carbajal.

Last week, threatening banners were left in another suburb of Toluca, and they were also signed by the Familia Michoacana.

The gang originated in the neighboring state of Michoacan in the early 2000s, and although it has been largely chased out of its home state, it has found a new lease on life in Mexico state and neighboring Guerrero state.

The Familia Michoacana has become known for carrying out ruthless, bloody ambushes of police in Mexico state and local residents in Guerrero.