Mexico offers $4.7 mln for information on missing students

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's National Attorney General office said Monday that it will offer a reward of 64.5 million pesos ($4.7 million) for giving useful information on 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", who came from the town of Ayotzinapa in Mexico's troubled southern state of Guerrero and have been missing since late September, said the office.

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, on Sept 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 at large.

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 organizations, said it would take two more weeks to identify the burnt bodies.