Mexican police find 6 kidnap victims dead on roadside

MEXICO CITY – Mexican police found the bodies of six men reportedly kidnapped by an armed gang in the southern state of Guerrero, the state prosecutor said Wednesday.

State prosecutor Xavier Olea said two women who were kidnapped along with the six men were released alive. But Olea said the women “are in a state of shock, they are very afraid” and had not yet spoken to investigators.

Olea said the kidnappings were reported Monday. The bodies were apparently found Tuesday in a rural mountain community north of the resort of Acapulco, an area that has been the scene of turf battles involving drug gangs and vigilante “community police” forces.

The prosecutor said investigators had not been able to remove the bodies for autopsies or testing because vigilantes would not allow it.

Also Wednesday, the governor of the eastern Gulf state of Veracruz said three marines who disappeared Tuesday in the port city of Veracruz remained missing.

Gov. Miguel Angel Yunes said in an interview on Grupo Formula radio that military and police were working closely to search for the marines. The marines handle policing duties in the port city and Yunes said they were abducted in the Infonavit Buena Vista neighbourhood.

The news outlet Milenio reported that Mexico’s navy confirmed they had been taken by force by an armed group.