Mexican authorities have found 28 badly burned bodies in mass graves Sunday in southern Mexico while searching for 43 missing students since a police run-in September of this year.

Inaky Blanco Cabrera, chief prosecutor of the Guerrero state, said the recovered bodies were too damaged to be immediately identified and he could not confirm whether the bodies found were some of the students who went missing after clashing with the police.

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According to Cabrera, the bodies were covered in petrol and burned before they were buried.

Local officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were at least 34 bodies buried in six pits two kilometers away from the nearest road.

Lawyer Vidulfo Rosales, said relatives of the missing students have already provided a DNA sample to be compared with those of the recovered bodies.

DNA testing to confirm the identities of the bodies could take up to two weeks, Cabrera said.

As the investigation on the mass graves carry on and authorities continue to pull bodies from the graves in the outskirts of Iguala, relatives and friends of the missing students staged a protest to demand updates regarding their loved ones.

About 2,000 people demanded justice and blocked a major highway in the capital of Chilpancingo.

One of the banner carried by the protesters, read, "You took them alive, we want them returned alive."

According to security officials, they believe the victims were brought to the hillside, executed and buried.

The officials said drug cartel members may have infiltrated the police force and took the students.

In addition, a security official said that a suspected gang member told authorities that the police who took the students handed them over to their killers, who were members of the gang.

TagsMexico, mass graves, Law Crime, crimes against humanity