An investigation is underway after two women from Arizona were found shot to death in an overturned car on a dangerous stretch of highway in northern Mexico.
The women, identified only by their last names and ages, were 72 and 82 years old, the Sonora state attorney general’s office said in a press release on social media on Friday.
The victims originally came from Caborca, further southeast in Mexico, and had dual US-Mexico citizenship.
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The Attorney General’s Office said investigators from the Mexican National Guard and Army found a stolen Ford F-150, an AK-47 and ammunition believed to be linked to the murders.
“Security forces from three levels of government, with the support of specialized air and ground troops, immediately launched an operation to locate and arrest the criminal group responsible,” said Sonora state prosecutors.
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Sonora and the Sonoyta-Caborca highway are known for violence and migrant trafficking.
In June 2023, a California student doing horticultural research in Sonora was found shot seven times in an SUV. In December, two U.S. citizens and a U.S. citizen were shot by gunmen on a highway in Sonora. One of the men was killed, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
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The state was once controlled by notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was arrested in 2016 and is serving a life sentence in Colorado. Three cartels continue to wage war in Sonora.
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.