Dozens of bodies found near the Mexico-US border

Mexican authorities

are investigating a battle between two alleged drug gangs that left at least 21 bodies, 17 of them burned, in a border town near where U.S President Donald Trump will visit today, in order to win support for his plan to build a wall .

The area where the bodies seem to be a location where fuel pipelines are drained.

The bodies were found by the Mexican army on Wednesday. They also found 7 vehicles, bullets; the dead were wearing military-style vests.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador

said at his daily morning press conference that initial information pointed to a “battle between two groups,” and that security officials would later provide further information.

Trump

is heading to McAllen, Texas , on the U.S. border . He has threatened to declare a national emergency if Congress does not meet his demand for billions of dollars to build a wall between the United States and Mexico .

A Mexican security official said that authorities discovered 20 bodies on Wednesday, 17 of them burned, outside Ciudad Miguel Alemán , which is about 90 kilometers away from McAllen , across the Río Grande river.

Today, another state security official said that 21 bodies had been found at the site.

Tamaulipas

has become one of the most violent states in Mexico , convulsed by gangs fighting to control drug trafficking, extortion rackets , and the exploitation of migrants .

Mexico murder rate reveals 2017 to be deadliest year on record

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