Mexico lawmaker abducted and killed

A Mexican federal lawmaker and his assistant have been abducted and killed and their bodies burned by an unknown gang.

A Mexican federal politician has been killed after being abducted in broad daylight, authorities say.

Deputy Gabriel Gomez Michel was driving to the airport in the western state of Jalisco on Monday when a clutch of cars intercepted his sport-utility vehicle, authorities said.

The 49-year-old former pediatrician's body was found early on Tuesday in the neighbouring state of Zacatecas inside the charred remains of his SUV, alongside the burned corpse of his assistant.

Jalisco prosecutor's office said forensic experts positively identified the bodies of Gomez Michel and Heriberto Nunez Ramos.

The chief prosecutor of Zacatecas, Arturo Nahle, said the murder resembled the "modus operandi" of organised crime.

Security cameras captured the abduction, showing cars flanking Gomez Michel's SUV as a man in a red shirt points at his window on the road outside Guadalajara.

His wife had called the authorities to report his disappearance.

Gomez Michel's home state Jalisco is a bastion of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, one of the country's most powerful gangs, which have killed tens of thousands of people in turf wars since 2006.

Local politicians have often been the targets of attacks or threats during Mexico's drug war, with at least 30 mayors killed since 2006, but attacks against federal politicians are less common.


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