MEXICO CITY —

Police in the Mexican border state of Sonora say they have found six decomposing bodies near a highway leading to the Gulf of California resort of Puerto Penasco.

Tourists from neighboring Arizona use the highway to reach the resort, widely known as Rocky Point.

State police said Friday the bodies were found half-buried on a dirt road off the highway.

The victims were males and had gunshot wounds.

The men's identities and the motives for their death are not yet clear. But shell casings from an assault rifle have been found nearby and such weapons are favored by Mexico's violent drug cartels.

In the Sonora border city of Nogales, state police officer found a man's body in a plastic container bearing drug-related messages.