Police investigating a massacre in a Mexican state where two rival criminal groups have been fighting for control have found five burned bodies.

Mexican authorities in the violence-plagued southwestern state of Guerrero said they found the bodies stacked onto a burned vehicle when they arrived in Buenavista de los Hurtado on Friday.

The discovery followed reports of an attack with drones and gunmen on Thursday, allegedly by the Familia Michoacana drug cartel.

The attack caused an undetermined number of deaths and wounded at least six other people, a local human rights group said on Saturday.

Local media have reported that at least 30 people have died due to the attack.

Rev José Filiberto Velázquez, a priest and director of the human rights organisation, the Minerva Bello Centre, said some 80 local residents were forced to abandon their homes and that many community members were still missing.

Guerrero state spokesperson Rene Posselt said evidence suggests it was a targeted attack by Familia Michoacana members on a rival group known as Los Tlacos rather than being aimed at the community.

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Unverified footage circulating on social media shows heavily armed men dressed in military clothing piling bodies – some naked, their clothes scattered around the ground – on the rear of a red pickup truck riddled with bullet holes.

Some of the bodies appeared to have limbs cut off and at least one had a head missing.

A severed head is shown being arranged atop the human pile by one man while another, holding the camera and filming the pickup from all sides, says in heavy Mexican swear words to “send more”.

The video has more than three million views on X, since it was shared on Friday.

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Mr Posselt says police are investigating the footage.

He added that some 170 soldiers, National Guard troopers, state police officers and state prosecutor’s agents arrived in the area on Friday to begin their investigation into the massacre.

Investigators say villagers had declined to give DNA samples that would allow for the identification of the remains and advance investigations.

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