Bombs Explode as Mexico Mourns Massacred Migrants

(Aug. 29) -- A bomb exploded Saturday just three blocks away from a mass being conducted for 72 migrants found murdered at a ranch in northern Mexico, state media reported. Three people were injured in the blast in the city of Reynosa, the state-run Notimex news agency reported. Mourners had gathered nearby at a memorial service for the Central and South American migrants whose bullet-ridden bodies were found earlier this week.

"We condemn these types of acts that violate social peace and ... harm human beings, offend other nations, whose only error is not to have enough resources to retain their citizens, who leave in search of a better way of life," Father Pedro Contreras Hernandez said during the mid-day mass at the Our Lady of Guadalupe church, according to Notimex.

The explosion is the latest in a series of blasts to hit the northern state of Tamaulipas, appearing to target those investigating or reporting on the massacre of 58 men and 14 women. On Friday morning, two separate car bombs went off outside a police building and TV station in the state capital of Ciudad Victoria.

Bombs Explode as Mexico Mourn Massacred Migrants

Raul Llamas, AFP / Getty Images

An injured man is carried into an ambulance after a blast in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, on Saturday. More than 28,000 people have been killed since Mexico's president deployed soldiers to take on the country's powerful drug gangs in 2006.

Meanwhile, Roberto Suarez, the state prosecutor heading the investigation into the mass murder, and a local police officer he was traveling with, have been missing since Wednesday -- the day after the migrants' bodies were found on a ranch near San Fernando. Suarez's wife now fears that he has fallen into the hands of a drug-smuggling gang.

"I am almost certain my husband and the other man were kidnapped," Norma Nelly Aguilar Hernandez told the BBC. "I can only assume that those who abducted my husband are connected to organized crime in this region." She added that her husband had never received any direct threats from drug cartels, but admitted his role as chief detective on the massacre case made him a high-profile target.

The sole survivor of that mass execution revealed that a drug gang gunned down the illegal immigrants -- who were trying to reach the U.S. -- after they refused to work as assassins, according to MSNBC, which cited reports in the Mexican media.

The 18-year-old Ecuadorian -- who was wounded in the neck but managed to stumble to a military checkpoint on the highway -- reportedly told investigators that his captors had identified themselves as Zetas. The group, formed by ex-Mexican army special-forces members, is one of the most bloodthirsty and feared drug gangs in Mexico.

He said that the migrants had been kidnapped and blindfolded as they approached the border, and were taken to the ranch and ordered to hand over any cash. The gunmen reportedly told them they could work as hitmen for the Zetas and earn $2,000 a month -- although it's not clear if they were supposed to work in the United States or Mexico. When the migrants refused, the gunmen opened fire.

If confirmed as a cartel killing, the Tamaulipas massacre would rank as perhaps the most brutal incident in Mexico's already bloody drug war, which has claimed more than 28,000 lives over the past four years.