The 49 bodies now appear headed for an increasingly common fate in this drug war-wracked country: They could join the growing ranks of the unidentified dead. That group has become legion as nearly 16,000 bodies remain unidentified, says the National Human Rights Commission, an independent government agency. In total, 24,000 people have been reported missing. Many say the country’s police are simply overwhelmed by the number of drug war casualties as they struggle with poor forensic capabilities and the reluctance of some witnesses and victims’ relatives to help. That apparent futility is drawing increasing criticism from Mexicans weary of the government-led offensive against drug cartels, who are also fighting among themselves. The violence in total has claimed at least 47,000 victims since President Felipe Calderon launched his anti-cartel campaign in late 2006. “The level of violence we’re living with reflects the critical condition our institutions are in, and it reveals a corrupt government,” said Blanca Martinez of the Fray Juan de Larios human rights center in the northern border state of Coahuila. Hundreds of people have gone missing in Coahuila since 2009, when violence started to erupt in northeastern Mexico. The most recent discovery of corpses shows just how hard it is to put names to often heavily mutilated bodies. Although the 49 corpses all lacked heads, hands and feet, police performed DNA tests on them and compared the results, without luck, to hundreds of Mexicans reported missing. 3 Mexico journalists slain, dumped in bags in drug gang-plagued VeracruzSummit of the Americas may by a turning point in the war on drugs