Gunmen slaughter nine members of US Mormon family in Mexico, including six children and three women

Youngest victims were twin babies less than a year old

The burnt wreckage of a vehicle a Mormon family was travelling in when at least nine members were killed by gunmen during an ambush in Sonora, Mexico, on 4 November, 2019. (Kenneth Miller/Lafe Langford Jr/via Reuters)

Gunmen murdered at least nine members of a Mormon family, including six children, after ambushing their cars in Mexico.

Three US mothers, twin babies and four other minors were killed as they travelled along a dirt road in Bavispe, Sonora, on their way to Chihuahua.

One of the women, Rhonita, was killed along with an 11-year-old boy, nine-year-old girl and twins less than a year old when her car broke down, relative Julian LeBaron told the New York Times.

Two other women, a four-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl were also killed when two other cars were attacked further ahead, the newspaper reported.

Seven other children survived by hiding by the roadside.

A video posted on social media showed the charred and smoking remains of a burnt-out vehicle with bullet holes in it that was apparently carrying the victims when they were attacked on Monday.

The group belonged to the LeBaron family - a breakaway Mormon community that settled in the hills and plains of northern Mexico decades ago.

Relatives Alex and Julian LeBaron said nine people had died, although a government source only confirmed five.

In the video, a male voice with an American accent can be heard off camera saying: “This is for the record. Nita and four of my grandchildren are burnt and shot up.”

It is unclear what motivated the killings, however Mexico has been hit by a wave of attacks in recent weeks.

The most notable incident was a military-style drug cartel assault that forced the government to release a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in October.

Given the fact US citizens were killed on Monday, the incident may increase pressure from Washington on president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to rein in armed groups.

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

Chihuahua and Sonora state governments issued a joint statement saying an investigation had been launched and that some people were presumed dead and others missing.

Julian LeBaron described the incident as a “massacre”, saying some family members were burnt alive.

In a text message, he said other injured members of the family were being transported to Phoenix, Arizona, for treatment.

He said four boys, two girls and three women were killed.

“We don’t know why, though they had received indirect threats. We don’t know who did it,” he said.

Several children who fled the attack were lost for hours in the countryside before being found, Mr LeBaron added.

In 2010, two members of the Chihuahua Mormon community, including one from the LeBaron family, were killed in apparent revenge after security forces tracked drug gang members.

The Mormons had suffered widespread kidnappings before that.

Mormons of Germanic origin settled in northern Mexico in the 1920s from the US.

The group broke away from the mainstream Mormon Church when it abandoned polygamous marriages.

Additional reporting by Reuters.