In the first scene, an ice cooler with two heads is left on the street A sign next to the bodies warns those against a new cartel A few hours later, two other mutilated bodies are found in a different neighborhood
(CNN) -- Mexican officials found four dismembered bodies scattered in two neighborhoods in Ciudad Juarez on Tuesday, with a message by a "new" drug cartel at one of the scenes.
In the first scene, an ice cooler with two heads was left on street next to a sign by a group calling itself the "new cartel de Juarez," according to Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state prosecutor.
The sign issues a warning for those against the new group.
A few hours later, two other mutilated bodies were found in another neighborhood with a sign threatening the culprits of the first attack, according to the municipal police.
The new Juarez cartel is most likely a fusion between the Sinaloa cartel and its rival the Juarez cartel, local journalists said.
Juarez , just across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso, Texas, is one of Mexico's deadliest cities and an epicenter of drug cartel violence. The Juarez cartel and the Sinaloa cartel are fighting a bloody turf war in the region for lucrative smuggling routes, and for drug-dealing territory in the city.
Authorities found a graffiti message signed by the new drug cartel two months ago in Chihuahua city, but have disclosed little information about the group.
"We know in principle ... of an alleged group, but we have no hard information in relation to it. We are working. We are investigating," Cesar Augusto Peniche, a spokesman for the federal Attorney General's office, told reporters this month.
Crime rates in Juarez have gone down since last year, with the daily homicide rate dropping from about eight in 2010 to six in 2011.
Sandoval said the Juarez cartel continues to recruit and operate in the city, but did not elaborate on the new sign.
An investigation is under way, the state prosecutor's office said.
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