A Tamaulipas state official who did want not to be identified confirms earlier reports of 23 bodies discovered over nine hours in Nuevo Laredo.

The latest carnage in Nuevo Laredo is being called the deadliest day yet in its drug war between the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.

Some observers speculate it may have been in retaliation for 14 other mutilated bodies stuffed into plastic garbage bags found last month in a parked van.

A grisly photograph shows nine bodies at about 1 a.m. Friday hanging from a bridge near the Nuevo Laredo airport.

Sources report there were five men and four women, all young. A banner was strung nearby with a crudely worded warning to the Gulf Cartel from the Zetas.

Then by mid-morning, 14 bodies again in plastic bags in a white van were found outside a building in the heart of Nuevo Laredo.

However, their heads were left in ice chests at Nuevo Laredo city hall.

Joe Baeza, Laredo Police spokesman, said the situation is being closely monitored by the numerous law enforcement agencies that protect this side of the border.

"Feuding cartel factions and also throw in the Mexican military, they have their hands full right now," Baeza said.