Security officials in Mexico say that two men have been killed and a third injured by a mob for allegedly trying to kidnap a youth

Local residents in Chalco, near Mexico City, beat the men and forced them into a car, which they then set alight. Police have detained at least a dozen residents they suspect of the lynching. Kidnappings are common in Mexico, where criminal gangs make money by abducting people for ransom. Police described how around 600 locals armed with bars, clubs and bottles surrounded the three suspects and dragged them to the town's main square. Municipal police officers managed to save one of the men, but residents locked the other two in their car, doused it with gasoline and set it alight. In a recent travel warning, the US State Department warned of the rising number of kidnappings and disappearances in Mexico.