Mexican police found 19 bodies — many of them shot and burned — in a remote area near the US border that is known for drug-smuggling violence.

Authorities said the bodies were found in an uninhabited region of Tamaulipas, about 40 miles south of Rio Grande City, Texas.

When responding to a tip about a burning vehicle Friday, officials discovered the corpses inside and on the back of a burned-out pickup truck.

A second charred vehicle was found on the site.

“Preliminary investigations point to the fact that the cause of death were shots from firearms, and that then the bodies were set on fire,” a statement from prosecutors said.

“One of the lines of investigation is that the events could have happened at a place other than that of the discovery.”

No bullet casings were found on the scene.

The area is known for “constant fights between rival criminal groups that traffic drugs, arms and migrants,” an anonymous source close to the investigation told Reuters.

With Post wires