Gunmen in Acapulco Kidnap 22 Men

Gunmen kidnapped 22 men who were traveling together in Mexico's Pacific coast resort city of Acapulco, authorities said today. The group was visiting from the western city of Morelia and looking for a place to stay when they were abducted Thursday. Witnesses said the men, ranging in age 17 to 47, were kidnapped by an armed gang that drove them away in the three cars in which the group had been traveling.

The motive was unknown. A man who said he was traveling with the group but was in a store at the time of the abductions told police the detainees were tourists. Acapulco has been a key battleground for lucrative drug-trafficking routes. Violence in the region increased this year after a split in the Beltran Leyva cartel. Police, who were scouring the resort cities and the highways leading out of it for the missing men, gave no indication that they were tied to drug trafficking. (More Acapulco stories.)