2 pollsters killed, 1 kidnapped in Mexico; cartel message reportedly left with victims

Mexico's president said Tuesday that assailants have killed two workers who were conducting internal polling for his Morena party in southern Mexico.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said a third worker was kidnapped and remains missing. The three were part of a group of five employees who were conducting polls in the southern state of Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala. He said the other two pollsters were safe.

It was the latest in a series of violent incidents that illustrate how lawless many parts of rural Mexico have become; even the ruling party - and the national statistics agency - have not been spared.