Mexico missing students whereabouts to fetch awards

Mexico City: Mexico's National Attorney General announced a reward of 64.5 million pesos ($4.7 million) for providing useful information about the whereabouts of 43 missing students.

The money will be rewarded "to anyone or those who provide truthful and useful information that effectively contributes to the timely location of the 43 students", missing since late September, the attorney general's office said in a statement.

The students came from the town of Ayotzinapa in Mexico's troubled southern state of Guerrero, the statement said, Xinhua reported Tuesday.

A reward of up to 1.5 million pesos (around $100,000) will be issued for useful information on each missing student, said the office, adding it will also reward any lead that could help to identify and arrest those responsible for the case.

The students went missing reportedly following a clash with local police in Iguala, another city of Guerrero, Sep 26.

Public pressure has been mounting on the government, which was initially slow to react to the incident.

The authorities said they are looking for the mayor of Iguala, who has been stripped of his post due to the incident, and the head of local public security, both of whom are untraceable and missing.

A search operation has so far uncovered nearly 20 suspicious graves in and around Iguala, and an independent group of Argentine forensic experts, hired by concerned parents and activist organisations, said it would take two more weeks to identify the bodies.