World At least nine Americans killed in Mexican highway ambush

At least nine U.S. citizens — including six children — were killed in what local media described as a highway ambush in the Mexican border state of Sonora late Monday, a family member told NBC News.

The dead included 8-month-old twins, said Kendra Lee Miller, who is related to many of the victims. There were at least eight survivors.

Miller added that the victims lived in La Mora, which is about 75 miles south of the U.S. border.

© Kendra Miller Image: Rhonita Miller and her twins Titus and Tiana

Miller named the victims as Christina Marie Langford Johnson, 29, Dawna Langford, 43, and Trevor Langford, 11, and Rogan Langford, two-and-a-half. Also slain were Rhonita Miller, 30, Howard Miller, 12, Krystal Miller, 10, and eight-month-old twins, Titus and Tiana Miller.

Official: Heavily armed man arrested in Mexico not linked to deadly ambush

Three women and six children were killed — including 8-month-old twins — and all belonged to a break-away group that once had ties to the Mormon ChurchSources have told CBS News the victims may have been targeted by a drug cartel. Some of the survivors remained hospitalized Wednesday morning with gunshot wounds.

MEXICO CITY — At least three women and six children in a prominent local Mormon family were killed on Monday when their vehicles were ambushed in Members of the LeBarón family, American citizens who have lived in a fundamentalist Mormon community in the border region for decades, were

MEXICO CITY — At least five members of a prominent Mormon family were killed on Monday when their vehicles were ambushed in northern Mexico by gunmen believed to While officials said the toll was at least five, family members said it was higher , with one putting it at nine , including six children.

Earlier another relative of one of the victims, Willie Jessop, told NBC News on the phone out of Utah overnight that a number of people were traveling in a motorcade consisting of several families when they came under the attack.

Jessop said three of the cars were shot at and one of them was set on fire based on the information he has been receiving from other family members at the scene.

Jessop said they have been trying to mobilize Mexican federal officials and have been in contact with the FBI.

“Everyone is in so much shock," he said. "It's just unbelievable and there's just no way to comprehend it."

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Mexico has been hit by a wave of attacks in recent weeks, shocking even for a country used to more than a decade of intense drug war violence. The most notable incident was a military-style cartel assault that forced the government to release a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in October.

Baby Faith found in bullet-ridden SUV reunited with dad after Mexico family massacre

Christina Johnson, Faith’s mother, saved her daughter’s life by stashing her car seat at the bottom of the vehicle during the attack.Seven-month-old Faith was found buckled into her car seat hidden in a floorspace of one of the three SUVs that was gunned down in a mountainous area near the Sonora-Chihuahua border. Her mother, 33-year-old Christina Langford Johnson, was killed during Monday’s attack.

At least three women and six children from an American Mormon community based in northern Mexico have been killed in an ambush , a relative of Many Mormons in Mexico enjoy dual Mexican and American citizenship. Mexico has registered more than 250,000 murders since the government

MEXICO CITY - Nine people were killed on Tuesday in the central Mexican state of Durango after the truck they were driving was ambushed by a rival drug gang, state officials said. Officials said the nine men, including one teenager, died from gunshot wounds after they were attacked by a group of

Monday's incident may increase pressure on President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to crack down on armed groups.

El Universal, one of Mexico's largest newspapers, quoted other relatives as saying that members of a Mormon family were killed in what appeared to be an organized crime ambush.

There was no immediate indication of who was behind the attack.

El Universal reported that a large group of family members were traveling to La Mora, in the municipality of Bavispe, from another part of the municipality when they were ambushed.

Mexico's national civil defense agency confirmed that elements of the National Guard, the army and the state police were conducting a search operation in Bavispe on Monday night in response to the reports. It provided no other information.

The U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau said in a tweet in Spanish that "the safety of our fellow citizens is our top priority. I am closely following the situation in the mountains between Sonora and Chihuahua."

American families fleeing Mexico arrive in Arizona days after cartel massacre

A caravan of Mormon families fleeing Mexico following this week's drug cartel ambush that killed nine Americans crossed into Arizona on Saturday.The Arizona Daily Star reported that 18 vehicles carrying about 100 people entered the U.S. via the port of entry in Douglas, Ariz.

Mexican - American families heading to a Mormon wedding in Mexico were attacked, and an SUV went up in flames, with its A string of SUVs carrying moms, kids, and babies heading to a wedding in Mexico was brutally attacked by armed gunmen on Monday, killing at least 10 passengers, including

Newt Gingrich reacts after at least nine American citizens are killed by a Mexican drug cartel. U.s. citizens killed kidnapped in cartel shootout in mexico . Those attacked were members of the LeBaron family, a well known American clan who have lived in the fundamentalist community

Landau, who earlier in the day said he was on his way to Sonora "for my first visit to the northeast of Mexico," did not share details of the incident. The U.S. State Department also said it was aware of the reports but had no further comment.

Claudia Pavlovich Arellano, the governor of Sonora, said on Twitter late Monday that "as a mother," she was filled with deep pain by "the cowardly acts in the mountains between Sonora and Chihuahua."

"I don't know what kind of monsters dare to hurt women and children," Pavlovich said.

Senator for Sonora, Lilly Téllez, said on Twitter “the massacre in Sonora cannot go unpunished.”

Manuel Añorve Baños, another Mexican senator, called what happened “a despicable, merciless and savage act” in a tweet, adding: “We demand justice.”