Two of the four Americans abducted in Mexico last week when their van was caught in a shootout have been found dead, a top Mexican official said on Tuesday (early Wednesday NZ time).

The two others have been found alive, one of them wounded.

Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal did not provide details on the extent of the wounded person’s injuries, saying, “right now the ambulances and the rest of the security personnel are going to give the corresponding support”.

The governor did not share any additional details about where or how they were found.

A member of the Mexican security forces stands next to a white minivan with North Carolina plates and several bullet holes, at the crime scene where gunmen kidnapped four U.S. citizens who crossed into Mexico from Texas, Friday, March 3, 2023. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the four Americans were going to buy medicine and were caught in the crossfire between two armed groups after they had entered Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday. (AP Photo)

The FBI had reported on Sunday (Monday NZ) it was searching with Mexican authorities for the missing Americans, who were kidnapped on Friday (Saturday NZ).

A relative of one of them said they had travelled together from South Carolina so one of them could get a tummy tuck from a doctor in the border city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.

Shortly after entering Mexico they were caught amid fighting between rival cartel groups in the city.

A video showed them being loaded into the back of a pickup truck by gunmen. Mexican officials said a Mexican woman also died in Friday’s crossfire.

Villarreal confirmed the deaths by phone during a morning news conference by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, saying details about the four abducted Americans had been confirmed by prosecutors.

Obrador complained about the US media’s coverage of the missing Americans, accusing them of sensationalising things.

 “It’s not like that when they kill Mexicans in the United States; they go quiet like mummies.”

“It’s very unfortunate, they [the US government] has the right to protest like they have,” he said. “We really regret that this happens in our country.”

The shootings illustrate the terror that has prevailed for years in Matamoros, a city dominated by factions of the powerful Gulf drug cartel who often fight among themselves.

Amid the violence, thousands of Mexicans have disappeared in Tamaulipas state alone.

- AP