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14 killed, 20 kidnapped in Mexico

03 October 2010 04:18 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Fourteen people have been killed in a battle between drug gangs in northern Mexico and 20 people have been kidnapped in Acapulco, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Fourteen people were killed in a shootout between rival drug gangs in a remote town in the northern state of Durango on Friday morning, Mexican newspapers reported.

Police and soldiers headed to the town after the shootout.

In another incident, gunmen abducted a group of 20 tourists in Mexico’s Pacific coast resort city of Acapulco, state investigative police say.

The group was visiting from the western city of Morelia when they were kidnapped on Thursday, Fernando Monreal, the director of the state investigative police in Guerrero state, announced on Saturday.

Witnesses say gunmen kidnapped the group, who ranged in age from 17 to 47, and took them away in three cars, the Associated Press reported.

Acapulco is a major hub for drug-trafficking. Violence has surged in the region this year since President Felipe Calderon stepped up the country’s war against drug trafficking.

However, the police say they have found no clues implicating drug-traffickers to the abduction so far.