2 kidnapped Americans found dead in Mexico

MEXICO –

Two US citizens who went missing last week in the northern Mexican border city of Matamoros have been found dead and two others alive, the state’s governor said Tuesday.

The governor of Tamaulipas, Americo Villarreal, said that one of the rescued US citizens was injured, and the other was not.

The FBI said Sunday it was working with Mexican authorities to search for the missing Americans who were kidnapped Friday. A relative of one of them said Monday that they traveled together from South Carolina so one of them could have abdominal surgery from a doctor in Matamoros.

Shortly after entering Mexico on Friday, they were caught in a crossfire with rival cartel groups. The video shows them being loaded into the back of a pickup truck by armed men.

Mexican officials said a Mexican woman also died in the crossfire.

The incident illustrates the terror that has reigned for years in Matamoros, a city dominated by powerful Gulf drug cartels that often fight among themselves. Amid the violence, thousands of Mexicans have disappeared in the state of Tamaulipas alone.