North of the Guatemala massacre leaves 27 dead

GUATEMALA city - attackers killed at least 27 people - beheaded most of the victims - on a ranch in a part of the North of the Guatemala plagued by the drug cartels, the national police said Sunday.

The massacre of 25 men and two women took place Sunday at the start in the city of Caserio La Bomba, in the province of Peten near the Mexico border, according to the National Civil Police spokesman Donald Gonzalez.

It is one of the worst massacres since the end of the civil war of the Guatemala 36 years in 1996.

Gonzalez said police are investigating whether the attack is related to executions on Saturday in the Peten Haroldo Leon, the brother of boss Guatemalan drug Juan Jose "juancho" Leon argued.

Leon "juancho" was killed in an ambush that the Guatemalan authorities accuse the drug cartel, Zetas of Mexico, who snatched more control of the drug beyond Mexico, sometimes by eliminating their competition in 2008. Ten others were killed in the attack of 2008.

Guatemalan said police authorities and soldiers sought the area Sunday for the unidentified attackers and offer a motive for the attack.

"It is a terrible event that we must clarify and investigate without taking into account the consequences, one who is the author of this massacre," said the Attorney General of Guatemala, Claudia Paz y Paz.

Guatemala has become a major point of shipping drugs to the North of the United States.

In February, the Government lifted a State of long two months of siege he had stated in the province of Alta Verapaz, which neighbouring Peten province, where security forces have been sent to quell the violence related to the drug.

State of siege has given to the army of the powers of emergency – including the authority to detain suspects without a warrant - and allowed the arrest of at least 20 suspected members of the Zetas gang.

The Zetas are a group of former soldiers who began as killers of cartel, drug of the Gulf of Mexico before break on their own, quickly becoming one of the most violent bands of Mexico and spread terror in Central America. They are known for their brutality, including decapitation rivals and officials. Authorities have linked to a series of massacres and mass graves North of the Mexico.

The Zetas began cocaine controlling trafficking in the region of Alta Verapaz in 2008 after killing Leon "juancho".