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Missing Mexico students: Iguala mayor arrest ordered Missing Mexico students: Iguala mayor 'ordered attack'
(about 14 hours later)
Mexico's government has ordered the arrest of the mayor of the southern town of Iguala, where six people died and 43 students disappeared after clashing with local police last month. Mexico's attorney general has ordered the arrest of Jose Luis Abarca, Mayor of the town of Iguala, where 43 students went missing after clashing with police on 26 September.
Mexico's chief prosecutor said Mayor Jose Luis Abarca ordered the police operation, to stop the students disrupting an event hosted by his wife. The prosecutor accused Mr Abarca of ordering police to confront the students to prevent them from disrupting a public speech by his wife.
The couple are said to be on the run. Six people were killed in the clashes and 43 students disappeared.
The protesting students were last seen being bundled into police cars after the clashes on 26 September. Eyewitnesses described seeing them being bundled into police cars.
Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said Mr Abarca, his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda and police chief Felipe Flores were wanted "as the individuals who likely organised the events that took place in Iguala on 26 September". Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said that arrest warrants had been issued for Mr Abarca and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, as well as the town's police chief, Felipe Flores.
He also alleged that Ms Pineda had links to a local drug gang Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors). Mr Abarca requested leave from his post following the incident on 26 September and neither he nor his wife or Mr Flores have been seen since.
Municipal police officers arrested in connection with the clashes reportedly confessed to handing the students over to the gang. They are now considered fugitives.
Its suspected leader, Sidronio Casarrubias, was arrested last week. 'Criminal mastermind'
Separately, demonstrators protesting against the disappearances set fire to Iguala's town hall on Wednesday. On 26 September, a group of students from a teacher training college in Ayotzinapa had travelled to nearby Iguala to protest against what they said were discriminatory hiring practices, and to collect funds for their college.
There were also demonstrations in other Mexican towns and cities. The college has a history of left-wing activism and according to Mr Murillo Karam, Mayor Abarca had been angered by a previous protest they had held in his town.
Search continues On the same day, Ms Pineda was giving a report to local officials about a programme offering social services to families, which she heads.
The students had travelled to Iguala to protest and raise funds for their college. Local media have long speculated that the ensuing police crackdown on the students may have been related to Ms Pineda's public appearance.
Police opened fire on their buses as they were travelling back to their town, Ayotzinapa. Six people, three of them students, were killed in the shootings. In a news conference on Wednesday, Mr Murillo Karam said police officers testified that they had been told to intercept the students "on the mayor's orders" to prevent them from disrupting his wife's event.
The 43 were declared missing in the following days. Police then opened fire on the buses the students were travelling in, killing three of them and three more people in nearby vehicles.
The discovery of several mass graves around the town of Iguala has raised concerns about the students' fate. One busload of students tried to flee but was stopped by the police and taken to Iguala police station.
But DNA tests showed they were not among 30 bodies that have been analysed so far. The identity of the bodies remains unclear. Mr Murillo Karam also backed up claims that Ms Pineda and her husband had ties to a local drug gang calling itself Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors).
The Mexican government has offered a reward of 1.5 million pesos ($110,000, £68,000) for information on their whereabouts. He said that the alleged leader of the gang, Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado, had accused Ms Pineda of being "the main operator of criminal activities in Iguala".
More than 1,200 federal police have been deployed to look for them in and around Iguala. Bribes
Mr Casarrubias, who was arrested last week in Acapulco, said the mayor had bribed local police to let the gang act with impunity and had even allowed gang members to infiltrate the force.
Mr Murillo Karam said the gang leader had described how the police turned the students over to the gang and how, upon receiving a message from one of his men describing them as members of a rival gang, he had ordered their disappearance.
The prosecutor said gang members then loaded them onto a pick-up truck and took them to Pueblo Viejo, where a number of mass graves have been found.
Forensic tests suggested 28 bodies found there were not those of the students, but Mr Murillo Karam said they "may have been flawed".
Mr Murillo Karam said two more bodies had been discovered since and Argentine forensic experts flown in to help with the investigation were carrying out further tests on all the bodies.
A total of 52 people, including police officers, local officials and gang members have been arrested in the case.