Mexico City, November 4 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Federal authorities said Wednesday they are investigating three mass graves with an estimated 60 bodies just south of where the 43 Ayotzinapa were forcibly disappeared over a year ago, according to various local news reports.

Local residents denounced the drug gang Guerreros Unidos, or United Warriors, – the group the federal government accused of torturing and killing the Ayotzinapa students after they were handed over to them by municipal police – was likely responsible for the mass graves, Aristegui Noticias reported. At least six bodies were also recently found, according to reports.
   
Locals told reporters they had previously contacted the Ayotzinapa families to inform them of the mass graves in Carrizalillo, Guerrero, some 50 miles south of Iguala, where on September 26, 2014, the teacher trainee students were violently attacked while traveling on buses collecting money to travel to Mexico City to mark the 47th anniversary of the Tlatelolco Massacre.

Local residents told the Ayotzinapa families to go to the mining town to look for the missing students because they say that at least 100 United Warriors' gang members arrived in the community immediately after the attack on the rural teacher trainees.

The farming commissioner of Carrizalillo, Nelson Figueroa, confirmed the discovery of at least three mass graves with six bodies. But he added that local residents say the United Warriors could be responsible for having excavated the graves and depositing about 60 bodies in them.

Mexico's federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) released a statement saying they have sent a forensic and investigative team to Carrizalillo.