MEXICO CITY – Eight bodies, six of them naked and “with signs of torture,” were found by municipal police officers on Thursday in Ecatepec a city in Mexico state, prosecutors said.

“Around 2:00 a.m. local time, the discovery of the bodies of two males was reported in the streets of the San Andres de la Cañada neighborhood,” the Mexico state Attorney General’s Office said.

The victims have not been identified, the AG’s office said.

Six more bodies were found at 6:30 a.m. between Petroleos Mexicanos avenue and John F. Kennedy street in the Obrera Jajalpa district.

“The investigating officers confirmed that five bodies were those of males and one was a female between the ages of 18 and 23,” the AG’s office said in a statement.

Two of the men had ropes around their necks and all of them had “tattoos on different parts of their bodies,” Ecatepec city officials said.

Investigators presume that the killings are linked to organized crime because of the way the victims were murdered, but no messages were left with the bodies, city officials said.

“Both incidents are being investigated by the homicide prosecutor’s office, which immediately assigned personnel to conduct the corresponding investigation,” the Mexico state Attorney General’s Office said.

Ecatepec has 1.9 million residents and is one of largest cities in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area. EFE