Two priests have been found dead in eastern Mexico hours after they were kidnapped from their church, reports AFP on Seven News.Their deaths takes the number of Catholic clergymen killed in the country since 2012 to 14.
The priests were abducted by gunmen on Sunday from the church in Poza Rica, in the crime-plagued state of Veracruz, said Fr Jose Alberto Guerrero, a local spokesman for the Bishops' Conference in Teziutlan, Puebla State, where the victims were based.
"They took the two priests by force, as well as a sacristan," Fr Guerrero told AFP.
The sacristan managed to escape but the priests were found with bullet wounds in the municipality of Papantla on Monday, close to where they were kidnapped, the spokesman said.
The Mexican Episcopal Conference expressed its "pain and outrage over the violence" against the priests in the world's second biggest Roman Catholic country after Brazil.
"We hope the authorities will clear up these incidents and apply justice against those responsible," the conference said in statement.
The Veracruz prosecutor's office issued a statement saying it had launched an investigation after two people were found dead on Monday in Papantla, a day after they were kidnapped in Poza Rica.
It did not reveal their identity but the statement's description of the deaths coincide with the Church's information.