Three confess in disappearance of 43 Mexican students

Mexican authorities believe that they have arrested the people responsible for the murder of 43 students who were protesting, which has set off massive protests and unrest through out the country.

AFP reports that three men have confessed to the murders, which took place September 26 as the students tried to make their way to the city of Iguala, in the state of Guerrero, to mount a protest.

The Los Angeles Times reports that so far 70 people, including the mayor of Iguala and his wife, have been arrested. Most of the arrested were police officers who have ties to a drug trafficking outfit known as Guerreros Unidos, according to The New York Times.

The Times says the mayor was worried that the students would disrupt a speech by his wife, who was just beginning her political career. On hearing of the possible protest, the mayor is said to have told the police to, "teach them a lesson."

The Times reports that the police stopped the students as they made their way to Iguala and then handed them over to Guerreros Unidos, which killed the students.

AFP says the gang members then took the bodies near a landfill where they set them on fire using gasoline and wood. The fire is believed to have lasted for 14 hours, destroying most of the evidence and making it difficult to accurately identify the remains.

The fire was so hot the that the killers had to wait three hours after it was extinguished before they could handle the remains, according to AFP. The victims' remains were then crushed and placed in trash bags before being thrown into a river.

AFP reports the remains will be evaluated by an independent group of forensics experts from Argentina as well as members of a university in Austria.