Child killed with acid injection by kidnappers in México

Kidnappers in Mexico City killed a five-year-old child by acid injection after discovering they were sought by police, local prosecutors say.

Four suspected kidnappers, including a woman and a 17-year-old boy who knew the victim's family, initially sought a $34,000 ransom after kidnapping the child on October 26, the capital's prosecutor's office said.

"When they found out they were sought by police, they decided to take the victim to a hill... where they killed and buried him," a statement said.

The child was killed with an injection of acid, it added.

The suspects were detained at the weekend after a tipoff from a taxi driver who had picked up one of them with the child and later alerted police after seeing a news report on his disappearance.

Official figures show there were 651 kidnappings in Mexico in the first nine months of the year, although experts say the figure could be two or three times higher because many cases go unreported.

El niño, Javier Morena, era el hijo más grande de una familia de escasos recursos que vende fruta picada en un mercado ambulante de Iztapalapa, una zona de bajo nivel económico del oriente de la ciudad de México.

Javier fue enterrado el lunes.

"El no tenía que morir así, lejos de sus padres, Si es que tenía que ir con Dios, esa no era la manera", dijo Laura Vega, madre del menor.

"Yo quisiera que los mataran. Ellos tienen que sufrir lo que sufrió mi niño", dijo.