Officials have recovered the remains of four people belonging to a group of over 20 missing miners believed to have been killed by a gang seeking control over a wildcat gold claim in southeastern Venezuela, according to AP. Police investigating the massacre made the grisly discovery on Monday in an area of jungle in Bolivar state near where the miners went missing a week ago, Attorney General Luisa Ortega said Monday in an interview with Globovision. The massacre last week rocked Venezuelans accustomed to morbid tales of violence in a country with one of the world's highest murder rates and widespread impunity. Fearing unrest after the state's governor denied the massacre took place and outraged relatives blocked a highway to Brazil in protest, President Nicolas Maduro's government has dispatched more than 1,000 soldiers and cabinet officials to search for the missing miners. The circumstances behind the massacre remain unclear, however. Ortega said she believes 21 people were killed by a criminal gang led by an Ecuadorean. But opposition politicians and relatives who say they witnessed the attack put the number at 28 and contend local officials were involved, a claim the government denies. One person linked to the gang's ringleader has already been taken into custody and several more arrests are expected to be made soon, said Ortega.
