19 bodies on on Saturdayhas been found by the Mexican investigators buried in the backyard of a house in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, The attorney general’s office did not say how the victims died or who may have buried the bodies.

Ciudad Juarez has been plagued by violence as Mexico’s crackdown on powerful drug cartels stokes turf wars among traffickers who have been linked to hundreds of killings in the past two years. Cartels frequently use “safe houses” in border cities to store drugs, house gunmen & dispose of dead rivals.

In last month six bodies had been found buried in a shallow grave at a house allegedly used by the Juarez cartel.