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8 Bodies - Some Dismembered - Found In Cancun; US Issues Travel Advisory

WASHINGTON, DC (CBS Local/CBS Pittsburgh) – The U.S. Department Of State has issued a level two travel advisory after eight bodies were found in the resort city of Cancun.

The travel advisory warns travelers to exercise increased caution due to crime in the area.

The advisory explains that violent crime such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery is widespread in Mexico. Prosecutors say they have found a total of eight dead bodies on the streets of Cancun, with two bodies dumped at two spots and four others were found shot to death individually.

The bodies of a man and a woman were found in an abandoned taxi Tuesday, and the dismembered bodies of two men were found in a several plastic bags at another spot.

Also Tuesday, one man was found bound and shot to death. Prosecutors said another man was killed while lying in a hammock, and a third was found shot and covered in a plastic bag.

A peddler offers his products to a touri
A peddler offers his products to a tourist at Cancun's beach on May 12, 2009. 25 hotels of the tourist Mexican zones of Cancun and the Riviera Mayaa have closed temporarily before the visitors' mistake from the appearance of the outbreak of swine flu that killed 56 persons in the country. AFP PHOTO/Luis Acosta (Photo credit should read LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images)

Details of the eighth body were not immediately available.

Though none of the killings occurred in the city's beach-side hotel zone, the State Department issued the advisory Wednesday.

The State Department says that according to Mexican government statistics, the Cancun area is experiencing an increase in homicide rates compared to the same period in 2016.

"While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted, criminal organization assassinations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens. Shooting incidents injuring or killing bystanders have occurred," the State Department said on their website.

(TM and © Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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