165 kidnapped migrants freed in Mexico
Mexican soldiers listen a distressed woman near Televisa TV network where a car bomb exploded early Friday in the northeastern city Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas state on Aug. 27, 2010. The Gulf of Mexico drug cartel was then engaged with the Zetas drug cartel in a bitter turf war for control of Tamaulipas smuggling routes into the United States.
The Mexican army freed 165 migrants held captive for weeks by criminal gangs in the country's north, officials said Thursday, according to CNN.
Most of the victims were from Central America, Mexican authorities told Agence-France Press.
CNN said the group included 77 Salvadorans, 50 Guatemalans, and 23 Hondurans; AFP said an Indian national was among them. The group was believed held for as long as three weeks.
They were taken captive in Mexico's northeastern Tamaulipas state as they were attempting to reach the United States, according to a government statement cited by AFP.
Rights organizations have repeatedly voiced concern for migrants in Mexico, many of whom fall victim to roving gangs and drug traffickers.