Five men were found shot to death along with a message from a drug cartel claiming responsibility for the killings, authorities in the western Mexican state of Michoacan said Tuesday.

The bodies were discovered by farmers early Tuesday in a rural area of the municipality of Tancitaro, 170 kilometers (106 miles) west of Morelia, the state capital.

The victims were bound and bore signs of torture, a state official said.

The message accompanying the bodies said the men were killed for refusing to work with the Jalisco Nueva Generacion drug cartel.