AKIPRESS.COM - Mexico recorded more than 33,000 homicides in 2018, the highest number since the country began keeping records, CNN reports.
There were 33,341 homicides in 2018, according to a report released by Mexico's Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection. That compares with 28,866 homicides in 2017 -- an increase of more than 15%.
The number of femicides -- the killing of females because of their gender -- also climbed, reaching 861 in 2018, compared with 759 in 2017.
Many of the homicides are linked to drug cartel violence. The Mexican government has been fighting a war with drug traffickers since 2006. At the same time, drug cartels have fought each other for control of territory.
In 2017, Mexican authorities uncovered a mass grave with more than 250 skulls, most likely the victims of drugs cartels over the years.