Cops find 53 BAGS of human remains at international art festival after dog spotted carrying hand in its mouth

A DOG spotted carrying a human hand in his mouth sparked the gruesome discovery of 53 bin bags crammed full of body parts in Mexico.

Cops found the horrific mass grave at an international arts festival in the Mexican town of Irapuato in Guanajuato state, around 170 miles northwest of the capital Mexico City.

The terrifying find was made after a dog returned carrying a human hand in its mouth.

Bibian Mendoza, the founder of a women's collective searching for missing persons, said she had come in search of her brother after hearing reports of the dog.

She followed the pup, which led her directly to the mass grave.

The remains have now been exhumed and analysed after they were first discovered in October.

It isn't yet known how many of the remains have been identified, but it is believed that experts are working with police to do so.

So far, Bibian's brother hasn't been named.

Bibian told Agence France-Presse: "While people from all over the world were celebrating the Cervantino festival, an international arts festival in the area, we were digging up bodies.

"At the same time, I thought it was useless because they were burying more people elsewhere."

Police officers were pictured protecting members of Bibian's group "Hasta Encontrarte" ("Until we find you"), during the search for missing relatives in the mass grave.

Guanajuato state in central Mexico has the highest homicide rate of any region of the country.

The state has seen more than 2,400 murders as well as some 3,000 disappearances between January and September this year.

Most violent crimes in the region are believed to be related to Mexico's violent drug cartels.

It is being driven by a years-long war between the deadly Jalisco and Sinaloa Cartels for control of the trades in cocaine and fentanyl.

While people from all over the world were celebrating the Cervantino festival... we were digging up bodies

Bibian MendozaFounder, "Hasta Encontrarte"

On Sunday, several cartel members were killed after they attacked a police station in Celaya, some 40 miles east of Irapuato.

A shooting at a bar in Apaseo el Alto in Guanajuato left nine people dead on November 9.

As well as fighting over drugs, cartels are increasingly at war over the theft of fuel in the face of soaring prices.

"Gang violence, often associated with the theft of petroleum and natural gas from the state oil company and other suppliers, occurs in Guanajuato, primarily in the south and central areas of the state," the US Department of State wrote in a travel advisory last month.

"Of particular concern is the high number of murders in the southern region of the state associated with cartel-related violence."

It comes just weeks after a dog was seen carrying a decapitated head in its mouth in central Mexico.

Residents of the violence-ridden state of Zacatecas, Mexico, were shocked when they witnessed a stray dog carrying the decapitated remains on Wednesday evening.

A law enforcement official said the head had been dumped on a cardboard placard next to a Mexican ATM booth in Monte Escobedo.

Terrified residents saw the animal running away with the corpse’s head before police could investigate the crime scene.

The gruesome remains were left with the message "the next head is yours", signed off by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s (JNGC) leader El Mencho, who is also the most wanted man in Mexico.