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MONTERREY, Mexico—Mexican police killed a 13-year-old boy during a raid to rescue a hostage, officials said.
The teen was apparently keeping watch over a kidnapped businessman in a house in the state of Nuevo Leon and was shot when he confronted police with a handgun, local security spokesman Jorge Domene said Monday.
The operation took place Saturday in Marin, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Monterrey, Mexico’s third largest city.
The hostage was freed unharmed and other alleged members of the kidnapping gang managed to flee, Domene said.
The teen’s body was identified by his grandmother.
Through threats and the promise of easy money, organized crime groups in Mexico have recruited about 30,000 children, according to a 2011 report by the Children’s Rights Network in Mexico.