Ciudad Juarez (Mexico), Dec 18 (IANS/EFE): Four women from the same family, all of them schoolteachers, were found tortured and slain in the mountains of northern Mexico, authorities in Chihuahua state said.

The victims, aged 32, 38, 57 and 59, were reported missing last Wednesday after they drove out from the town of Creel to attend a funeral in Guachochi.

The women's bodies were discovered late Saturday in a rural area of the municipality of Bocoyna, the Chihuahua state Attorney General's Office said.

The mountains of Chihuahua have been a focal point for violence in recent weeks.

Hours after the discovery of the missing teachers, another woman was found fatally shot in a nearby village, though police said they saw no evidence the crimes were connected.

In the highland city of Guadalupe y Calvo, gunmen killed 11 people over the course of Dec 7-8. The attackers closed the roads leading into tow, entered some houses and grabbed several people, residents told EFE.