Updated at 4:23 p.m. with reports of more violence in the southern state of Guerrero

Mexican authorities say nine men were found slain in the back of a small cargo truck in the southern state of Guerrero in the latest wave of violence to strike the country.

Earlier, the body of a man apparently killed execution-style was found in Cancun's hotel zone, continuing a recent string of violent crimes in the popular Mexican tourist area.

According to Riviera Maya News, a passer-by along Boulevard Kukulcán saw the body Friday morning in a mangrove area and alerted authorities, who discovered the man had been shot.

Initial reports indicated the victim was executed, and the area was cordoned off for investigators and guarded by federal police.

State prosecutors in Guerrero believe the men found there were probably kidnapped Thursday and reported missing the following night.

The truck, which was registered to one of the victims, was discovered Saturday morning along a highway between the state capital, Chilpancingo, and the city of Tixtla, about 80 miles north of Acapulco.

Prosecutors say the men lived in Tixtla and Chilpancingo and used the vehicle to sell possibly ill-gotten food products.

Guerrero has one of the highest homicide rates of Mexico's 31 states plus the capital district.

It is home to opium poppy plantations and splintered gangs at war with each other for control of the drug trade and extortion rackets.

Cancun, one of the most popular resort destinations in Mexico, has been hard-hit by violence in recent weeks.

On April 25, Cancun authorities said they had discovered five unidentified bodies in a car. Noticaribe, a Quintana Roo-based news organization, reported that the victims, all men, showed signs of torture.

The area has suffered a spate of drug-related crimes and homicides this year, the news organization said, with 57 people killed there in April alone.

Authorities said 14 of those homicides took place in a 36-hour span near tourist hotspots and are believed to be drug-related.

The recent crime wave includes a mid-April incident in which gunmen on Jet Skis sprayed gunfire toward a roving vendor in front of a beach resort. He fled into a restaurant and escaped injury.

The Associated Press contributed to this report