Arcelia, Mexico, Jan 15 (EFE).- The criminal outfit that kidnapped 22 people last weekend from this town in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero released 21 of those captives early Friday, authorities said.
The 21 people were freed between 1:30 and 2 a.m., state Gov. Hector Astudillo told a press conference, insisting that the gang freed the captives under the pressure of a pursuit involving more than 500 law enforcement personnel.
The captives' ordeal began last Saturday night, when a group of heavily armed men in military uniforms attacked a wedding caravan in Arcelia, killing three people and abducting 17 others.
One of the 17 prisoners, a middle-aged businessman, was found dead several days later between the towns of Salitre and San Miguelito, both located far from Arcelia.
While some media outlets said the other five people freed on Friday were educators taken Monday from a high school in Ajuchitlan del Progreso, a town near Arcelia, but state government sources contradicted that account.
The five people in question were hostages from the wedding party whose families did not report them missing, those sources told EFE.
After being released by the kidnappers, the 17 erstwhile prisoners were found by agents from the state Attorney General's Office on a hillside in the village of San Antonio de la Gavia.
They were taken to the prosecutor's office in Arcelia, where investigators took their statements.
Doctors examined all of the freed captives, who complained of having been beaten and mistreated, Arcelia Mayor Adolfo Torales said.
Regarding the five educators abducted from the school in Ajuchitlan del Progreso, Guerrero Attorney General Javier Olea said Thursday that their families had received demands for an "exorbitant" ransom of 3 million pesos ($167,000) each.
Arcelia and Ajuchitlan del Progreso are in the Tierra Caliente, a region straddling Michoacan, Guerrero and Mexico states that has been the scene of fighting among rival drug cartels.
Authorities have blamed the kidnappings on Los Tequileros, described as a splinter group from the Familia Michoacana drug cartel.