Mexican police on Thursday found 14 bodies inside an abandoned van on the outskirts of San Luis Potosi state in northern Mexico.

Gabriela Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the attorney general of San Luis Potosi, said the bodies were found close to a gas station after the authorities received an anonymous telephone call.

She also said the federal authorities are now in charge of a crime investigation, while forensic experts are still analyzing the death causes.

"There are 14 male corpses aboard a Mercedes Benz that has been reported as stolen," she added.

She said the victims were first kidnapped in another northern state, and then were moved to San Luis Potosi.

According to some evidence obtained by the state prosecutors, the kidnapees were killed on the way to the San Luis Potosi's capital city.

However, the spokeswoman did not mention whether these killings were related to the country's powerful drug cartels.

Drug trafficking has long been rampant in the Latin American nation, while drug-related violence has led to mass killings each year.

More than 50,000 people have been killed since former Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a war on drugs and organized crimes in 2006, indicating that the country's efforts to rein in the drug cartels have failed.

Mexico's new president Enrique Pena Nieto called for a debate on how the country should combat the drug cartels and other organized crimes last month before his inauguration.

However, he dismissed a "radical change" in tactics, saying "What we seek now in our new strategy is to adjust what's been done up until now."