8 bodies found in Mexico pits

Investigators found parts from at least eight bodies in a series of backyard pits at a house in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The Attorney General's Office did not say how the victims died or who is believed to have buried their remains, but it did note that 3,740 pounds of marijuana were found in the house during a Jan. 25 raid. Ciudad Juarez is home to the Juarez drug cartel.

Mexican cartels frequently use "safe houses" in border cities to store drugs, house gunmen and dispose of murdered rivals' remains.

A statement from the prosecutors office said authorities found five complete bodies, and the remains of at least three others in four pits.

Investigations were continuing to determine the identity of the corpses, the statement said.

Ciudad Juarez has been plagued by drug violence as Mexico's crackdown on its powerful cartels has stoked turf wars among traffickers that have been linked to hundreds of killings in the past two years.

Last month, federal agents found six bodies buried in a shallow grave at a house allegedly used by the Juarez cartel in the northern city of Chihuahua.

In January 2004, police unearthed a grave containing 12 bodies in a backyard in Ciudad Juarez. Authorities said the victims were cartel rivals who were strangled or suffocated.