Up to 12 members of a Mormon family - three mums and nine children - were killed in a massacre in Mexico blamed on a ruthless drug cartel.
Mum Rhonita Maria LeBaron, 33, is said to have died along with her babies - Titus and Tiana, aged six or seven months - and two other children, aged eight and 10, when gunmen attacked a convoy of vehicles.
Relative Julian LeBaron said some family members were burnt alive when a van exploded as bullets hit the petrol tank in an ambush that appeared to be a case of mistaken identity.
Other relatives were reported abducted and missing after they were attacked en route to a wedding.
The victims belonged to the LeBaron family, associated with a break-away Mormon community that settled in northern Mexico decades ago, and were dual US-Mexico nationals.
Julian LeBaron was left distraught after visiting the scene, about 70 miles south of the US border, and seeing the charred bodies inside the burned-out van on Monday.
He said the victims were innocent and were caught up in a war involving rival drug cartels, suggesting it was a case of mistaken identity.
He told Milenio TV: "This was a mistake. We do not know why.
"They are innocent women and children. They were going to see relatives. It is terrible."
The massacre happened as a group of women and 14 children travelled in a convoy from the small town of Bavispe, in the state of Sonora, to the Mormon community of LaBaron, in the neighbouring state of Chihuahua.
Grief-stricken relative Leah Staddon, who grew up in the Mormon community of Bavispe, said the three mothers and children were travelling in three vehicles to a wedding.
She said her nephew's wife - Rhonita LeBaron - and the woman's four children, including twin babies, died when their vehicle was attacked.
Ms Staddon, who now lives in Queen Creek, Arizona, said her brother found the bullet-riddled vehicle still smouldering with their charred bodies inside and he recorded video as evidence.
Ms Staddon said her sister-in-law Dawna Langford and cousin Christina Johnson, who were travelling in separate cars that were hijacked, were also killed.
She told the Arizona Republic newspaper: "It's devastating. It's incomprehensible, the evil. I don’t understand how someone could do that."
Ms Langford was travelling in a second vehicle with nine children.
After gunmen killed her and two of her kids, they opened a door and saw more children inside and let them go, said Ms Staddon.
Ms Johnson was travelling in a third car with her baby, who was found alive in the vehicle.
Ms Langford's teenage son hid younger children, some of whom were wounded, behind a tree to save them and then walked back to the family's ranch to raise the alarm.
Ms Staddon pleaded for help from US authorities, writing in a Facebook post: "They are doing all they can in Mexico and we need America’s help.
"Please help get the word out.
"We need to get them all back home safe also do not travel to Mexico!
"The mafia over Sonora and the mafia over chihuahua are in all out war right now!!!"
Heavily-armed soldiers were deployed to secure the area and search for the missing.
There were conflicting reports about the number of dead and the number of relatives who were abducted and missing.
El Universal, a national newspaper in Mexico, said 12 members of the family were killed in the attack.
Julian LeBaron shared a post on Facebook identifying one of the victims as Rhonita Maria LeBaron, also known as Rhonita Miller.
The post said she died with her twin babies - a boy and a girl - and two other children aged eight and 10.
The LeBarons are an offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who live in the northern state of Sonora.
The governments of Chihuahua and Sonora states, both of which border the United States, said an investigation had been launched and that some people were missing.
The states said federal and local security forces were sent into the area near Rancho La Mora.
US Ambassador Christopher Landau, who had traveled to Sonora earlier in the day on a prearranged visit, said he was following the situation "very closely".
He wrote on Twitter: "The security of our nationals is our top priority."
Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich, who welcomes the ambassador to the state, called the killers "cowards" and vowed that they would be caught and punished.
She tweeted: "I don't know what kind of monsters dare to hurt women and children."
