Mexico ( Five Members of Same Family Killed in Northwestern Mexico )

CULIACAN, Mexico – Five members of the same family were shot and killed in a mountainous area of the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, sources with the state prosecutor’s office said.

A group of armed assailants reportedly abducted nine members of the family in La Cienega, a community in the town of San Ignacio, four of whom managed to escape.

The other five people were killed and their bodies were found in another nearby community.

Four males between the ages of 16 and 20 were among the victims, while the group that escaped consisted of a 16-year-old boy and three men between the ages of 29 and 48.

Mexican army soldiers and investigators with the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office were dispatched to the area to recover the bodies and launch an investigation.

Authorities have not yet indicated who may be behind the quintuple homicide or a possible motive.