Mexico City - Police found nine decapitated bodies in Tijuana, in the northern Mexican state of Baja California, the latest in a series of gruesome killings in the region, authorities confirmed late Sunday.

The killings followed nine other murders perpetrated late Saturday and in the early hours of Sunday in the same city, on the border with the United States, not far from San Diego.

A message was found by the decapitated bodies, and the authorities interpreted it as meant for what is left of the drug cartel formerly led by the Arellano Felix brothers.

The Arellano Felix family operated from Tijuana for over 20 years, but Mexican police have in recent years arrested several of its members. Eduardo Arellano Felix, known as "El Doctor," was arrested earlier this year - he was the last of seven male brothers that remained at large and was leading the cartel.

Over 4,500 people have been killed in Mexico so far this year in incidents linked to organized crime.

In Tijuana - where federal police recently took the place of the municipal police over its alleged ties to drug gangs - some 350 people are believed to have been killed in the past two months in incidents linked to organized crime, according to the count of the authorities. (dpa)