MATAMOROS, MEXICO (AFP) – Two United States (US) citizens kidnapped by suspected Mexican drug traffickers were found dead on Tuesday while two others survived, in what officials said appeared to be a tragic case of mistaken identity.
Washington vowed to do everything in its power to ensure justice for the victims, who crossed the border into the crime-plagued city of Matamoros in Tamaulipas state last Friday for medical reasons.
Initial indications were that the abduction was the result of a “mix-up” rather than a targetted attack, Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios told reporters.
The two survivors returned to the US via a land border crossing, officials said. One suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and the other was unharmed, according to Tamaulipas Governor Americo Villarreal.
The victims visited Mexico because one of them was planning to have cosmetic surgery, he said.
It was not immediately clear whether the two deaths occurred before or during the rescue operation, but Villarreal said preliminary investigations suggested all four were alive until at least on Monday.
“During the three days after the criminal act, the four people deprived of their liberty were transferred to various places, including a clinic, in order to create confusion and avoid rescue efforts,” he said.
The bodies of the two US citizens who lost their lives were expected to be repatriated within hours once forensic studies were completed in Mexico, Villarreal added.
The victims had travelled to Matamoros last Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina licence plates, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in an earlier statement.
“Shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen fired upon the passengers in the (minivan). All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” the FBI said.
A 33-year-old Mexican woman died near the scene, possibly from a stray bullet, Mexican officials said.
