Kidnappers abduct group from restaurant in Mexican tourist resort

[August 15, 2016]    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Armed men kidnapped a group of people from a restaurant in the heart of Mexico's major Pacific tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta early on Monday morning, the state attorney general's office said.

A general view shows a restaurant where unknown assailants kidnapped a group of people in the Pacific tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, August 15, 2016. REUTERS/David Diaz

Puerto Vallarta, in the state of Jalisco, is one of Mexico's top vacation destinations, luring all-inclusive tourists and high-end sunseekers to its beaches. The state is also home to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which has become one of the country's most powerful drug gangs in recent years.

In a statement, the state's attorney general's office said the victims were sitting in a restaurant in a major boulevard at 1 a.m. CDT (0600 GMT) on Monday, when gunmen arrived in two pickup trucks and took them.

The statement did not clarify how many people were taken, but local media reported as many as 16 people were seized. The prosecutor's office said it was investigating the incident.

(Reporting by Anahi Rama and Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Alan Crosby)

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