Authorities in Guatemala said that 27 people were killed with their heads decapitated on a northern farm on the Mexican border. Police believe the killings were drug related as drug gangs operate in the area.

Guatemalan police, Donald Gonzalez said, "Among the 27 dead were two women. All of them were beheaded." The police are still investigating when the killings occurred but the bodies were found Sunday at a farm in San Andres, about 500 kilometers north of the capital.

The killing is the largest single incident involving drug gangs in Guatemala. Police chief Jaime Otzin said the police is still trying to gather more evidence, although at this time they are looking at two possible drug gangs suspected of involvement.

The first is the notorious Mexican cartel "Los Zetas" that operates in the region. The Loz Zetas gang uses its extensive network through Latin America to smuggle drugs inside the United States.

The second angle the police is looking is the death of Haroldo Lara Leon, a farmer and brother of the late drug trafficker Juan Jose Leon, who was killed by the Zetas in 2008.

Haroldo was killed on Saturday while on board a truck traversing a country road and carrying an estimated $31,000 in cash, which was believed intended to pay his workers.

Otzin did not provide additional details.

Guatemala has the highest murder rates in Latin American with an average of 18 deaths per day. Most of the killings involve drug gangs locally known as "maras."

At least 20 people were killed last November 30, 2008 in the Agua Clara village in Huehuetenango near the Mexican border.

Three weeks ago, 15 Nicaraguans and one Dutchmen were burned inside a bus on a road in Zacapa. The victims went to Guatemala to buy some goods.