Mexico officials, without DNA confirmation, declare all 43 students dead

MEXICO CITY – Mexico's attorney general says that confessions and forensic evidence show that all 43 students who disappeared at the hands of local police in September were killed and then incinerated at a garbage dump in the southern state of Guerrero — a conclusion that relatives of the victims have resisted.

Jesus Murillo Karam on Tuesday laid out details of the investigation that he said has proved that the fire was hot enough to incinerate 43 people beyond recognition. So far, only one of the victims' remains has been identified by a lab in Austria, which said it appears to be impossible to identify the rest.

The Mexican government has been criticized by parents of the students and some fire experts who argue the explanation is implausible.