Security forces free 43 kidnap victims in Mexico
Forty-three kidnap victims, seized and held by criminals, were freed by the security forces in Mexico's Nuevo Laredo city, along the Mexican-US border, the Mexican Attorney General's office (PGR) confirmed on Monday.

Those freed Sunday told authorities they were kidnapped by local police officers or members of the Zetas, a gang led by soldiers-turned drug-hit men blamed for a rash of killings and violence along the Mexico-US border, Deputy Public Safety Secretary Rafael Rios told a news conference in Mexico City.

An operation was conducted on Sunday in three houses of south Nuevo Laredo, participated by the Airborne Group of the Special Forces (GAFES), the Federal Investigations Agency (AFI) and the Federal Preventive and State Preventive police forces.

More than 200 members of the military and AFI raided a safe house in Benito Juarez by a shoot-out with the kidnappers, and 33 hostages were rescued.

Ten more people were also released from other houses by the military and the federal agents in the area after an exchange of fire with an unknown number of assailants, Rios added.

Some of the victims had been held up for three months, one was taken to a hospital and none of those rescued had been reported missing or was the subject of a ransom demand, Rios said.

Those rescued were being questioned by the authorities in Nuevo Laredo and will eventually be flown to Mexico City for further investigations.