Mexican villagers kill three alleged kidnappers

MEXICO CITY – An angry mob of villagers in central Mexico attacked and killed three men Friday they accused of trying to kidnap a local resident.

So far, 23 people have been arrested for the mob attack, prosecutors said.

A spokesman for the Mexico State Security Secretariat told AFP the mob numbered “more than 500 people.”

An initial investigation showed “a group of six women incited local residents to attack three men, who they set on fire,” said a statement from the Mexico state attorney general’s office.

Police tried to rescue the three men but succeeded in pulling only one of them away from the mob. He died Saturday morning at a hospital.

The incident occurred in the village of San Mateo Huitzilzingo, which has about 14,000 residents.

Villagers said the men they attacked tried to kidnap a young man, the newspaper Reforma reported on its website.

Some police officers who rushed to the scene were wounded, the report said.

The State of Mexico prosecutor’s office condemned the attack and said it would not allow anyone to take “justice into their own hands.”