Two Americans found dead after kidnapping in Mexico, another wounded

On Tuesday, a senior Mexican official said two out of four Americans were killed in Mexico when their van was caught in the crossfire of rival cartel factions last week.

Two others are alive, one is wounded.

Tamaulipas Gov. Americaco Villarreal confirmed the death by telephone during a morning press conference for Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, saying details of the four abducted Americans had been confirmed by prosecutors.

On Sunday, the FBI said it was working with Mexican authorities to track down missing Americans who were abducted on Friday.

A relative of one of them said on Monday that they traveled together from South Carolina so that one of them could get a tummy tuck from a doctor in Matamoros.

Shortly after arriving in Mexico on Friday, they were caught in the crossfire of rival cartel factions.

The video shows how the militants load them into the back of a pickup truck.

“Of the four, two are dead, one person is injured and another is alive, and right now ambulances and other security personnel are on their way to provide appropriate support,” Villarreal said.

No further details about where and how they were found, the governor did not share.

He was expected to share more information at his own daily press conference scheduled for Tuesday morning.

The US citizens were found in a rural area east of Matamoros called Ejido Longoreño on their way to a local beach known as Playa Baghdad, according to a government agency who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak about the case.

Word of their whereabouts reached authorities before dawn on Tuesday.

Mexican officials said a Mexican woman was also killed in Friday’s shootout.

The incident illustrates the reign of terror that has reigned for years in Matamoros, a city dominated by factions of the powerful Persian Gulf drug cartel who often fight among themselves.

Amid the violence, thousands of Mexicans have disappeared in the state of Tamaulipas alone.

The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press article and may have revised it prior to publication to ensure it meets our editorial standards.