Jalisco — The dismembered bodies of 17 men were found Sunday on a farm in a part of central Mexico disputed by violent drug cartels, officials said.

The bodies were dumped near a highway in the town of Tizapan el Alto by the border between Jalisco and Michoacan, said Jalisco state prosecutor Tomas Coronado Olmos. The bodies were discovered as Mexicans celebrated their independence.

Coronado Olmos didn't reveal the identities of the slain men but said the bodies were naked, mutilated and stacked with chains around their necks.

They had been killed elsewhere and dumped on the property.

"Our border regions with other states are vulnerable to this kind of action and the dumping of bodies," the prosecutor said.

Authorities haven't said who they think is behind the killings but the area is a cartel battleground and Mexico's crime groups regularly leave behind such grisly remains as they battle for control of trafficking routes and markets.

Michoacan state is home to the Familia Michoacana and the Caballeros Templarios organized crime groups, and Jalisco has seen violence by the brutal Zetas and the Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartels.