Drug traffickers in Mexico have taunted police with body parts in Acapulco.

Suspected traffickers killed and mutilated a man on Wednesday, then left his body parts around the resort city of Acapulco, which has become plagued by drug violence, in a macabre taunt to authorities.

Police in the port city received reports on Tuesday of an "abandoned human head" on a busy street.

Officers answering the call also found a human torso stuffed into a bag, the police force said on its website.

Later, the deceased's legs and feet were discovered hanging from a downtown bridge, with a message from the alleged perpetrators to authorities.

On another bridge on the road to Mexico City, north of Acapulco, police found the victim's hands, bearing a note to state and local governments.

The messages "appeared to be put up at the same time, and had the same lettering", according to the police report.

Since 2010, Acapulco has increasingly been gripped by violence as warring drug cartels battle for control of the drug trafficking market.

In another incident on Wednesday, at least nine people were killed in drug related violence. These deaths add to the many thousands killed over the past three years.

Accross the border, Mexico's drug war festers less violently. Signs of the drug trade can be gauged from the increasing number of corrupt American officials identified.