MEXICO CITY - Police in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero have found three dismembered bodies on the side of a highway.

Pieces of the hacked-up, decapitated bodies were found in bags alongside the main highway in the state capital, Chilpancingo.

The state security spokesman said Sunday that the bodies apparently belonged to two men and one woman.

Spokesman Roberto Alvarez said investigators were working to establish their identities.

Alvarez said there were indications the killings were part of a dispute between gangs over drug trafficking and drug sales.

He also noted that a woman and a man had been found shot to death in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.