2 Americans dead after kidnapping in Mexico

 Two of the four Americans kidnapped at gunpoint in Mexico last week are dead and two are alive and now back in the US, Mexican and US officials say.

Four US citizens were kid­napped by armed men on March 3 while driving into the city of Mat­amoros in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, across the border from Texas.

They had travelled there for cosmetic surgery, relatives told US media. One man, named only as José “N”, 24, from Tamaulipas, has been arrested.

White House National Secu­rity Council spokesman, John Kirby, said: “We offer our deepest condolences to the friends and families of those who were killed in these attacks”.

The two surviving victims were delivered to the US on Tuesday in co-operation with the US con­sulate in Matamoros, Tamaulipas Attorney General, Irving Barrios Mojica, said in a tweet. They were brought back under armed escort by a heavily armed Mexican mili­tary convoy.

The Federal Bureau of Intelli­gence (FBI) later confirmed that two Americans were found dead and that the other two have been brought to American hospitals for treatment.

“One of the surviving victims sustained serious injuries during the attack,” the FBI said.

The statement added that the agency will work with interna­tional partners and other law enforcement agencies to “hold those responsible for this horrific and violent attack accountable for their crimes”. —BBC