THE bodies of two decapitated men have been dumped in front of the offices of two newspapers in western Mexico

THE bodies of two decapitated men have been dumped in front of the offices of two newspapers in western Mexico, prosecutors said.

"We suspect that the two instances were simultaneous ... At the Noroeste newspaper, there was a decapitated male. There was an additional decapitated man thrown at the newspaper El Debate, also in Mazatlan," an office spokesman said.

Along with the bodies, messages threatening Sinaloa state Governor Mario Lopez Valdez and Mazatlan Mayor Alejandro Higuera were found.

Authorities said the messages were from the Los Zetas Cartel and the Beltran-Leyva Cartel.

Mexico is the world's deadliest country for journalists, according to the United Nations. In the past decade, at least 66 journalists have been slain and another dozen are missing.

Some 37,000 people have been killed in mainly drug-related feuds since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown four years ago involving some 50,000 troops and police reinforcements that has so far failed to stem the bloody tide of violence.