Deadly attack on Mormons on US-Mexico border

President Trump commented on the news that nine people were killed in Mexico Monday.

In a tweet minutes later, Trump added bluntly: “This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!” 

Some context: A family member told CNN the victims were attacked “separately but simultaneously by two different groups of same cartel.” The attorney general of the State of Chihuahua said preliminary information indicates they were attacked by criminal groups, but officials have not explicitly said a drug cartel was behind the attack.

Here are the tweets: 

Leah Staddon told CNN affiliate KTVK that her relatives were among the victims of the attack.

The Mormons killed near the US-Mexico border appear to be members of a fundamentalist sect that is separate from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

CNN reached out to LDS-Church spokesperson. Here's what he said:

Mexico's Security Minister confirmed nine people were killed Monday in an attack on a Mormon family traveling in Mexico. 

Speaking in a daily news conference alongside Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo confirmed three women and six children were killed in the attack. A family member confirmed the deaths to CNN earlier today.

Durazo said the attack could have been a case of mistaken identity of "conflicting groups in the area."

President Obrador offered his condolences to the family, calling it a "terrible tragedy," adding, "innocent children have lost their lives."

Footage captured at the scene of the brutal attack shows the remains of the vehicle transporting a Mormon family living near the US-Mexico as a burnt shell.

A relative said nine family members were killed in the attack.

Here's what the scene looks like:

The State Department has responded to early reports of several family members being killed in Mexico. 

Nine family members with dual citizenships — to the US and Mexico — were killed in northern Mexico on Monday, Alex LeBaron, a family member of the Mormon community told CNN from Mexico today.

Here's the statement from a State Department spokesperson: 

Nine family members with dual US-Mexico citizenships died in a violent attack in northern Mexico on Monday, Alex LeBaron, a family member told CNN from Mexico today.

Speaking to CNN via Twitter, LeBaron said that those “burnt alive” included three women, four small children and two infants.

Another seven children were injured in the incident and flown from Mexico to Douglas, Arizona where they were then to be transported to Tucson hospitals, LeBaron added.

Members of a Mormon community were attacked while traveling near the US-Mexico border, authorities said today.

A relative of the victims said nine people were killed.

The group — made up mostly of women and children — were traveling through the region of Sierra Madre Occidental, the Attorney General of the State of Chihuahua Cesar Peniche Espejel said in a statement released today.

The attack took place in the region of in the region of Sierra Madre Occidental.

Espejel said in the statement that due to the remote location of the attack, it has “not been possible to specify an official figure of the total number of victims.” He has confirmed that officials from Chihuahua have been sent to the area to assist. 

Early this morning, Christopher Landau, US Ambassador to Mexico, sent a tweet from his verified account stating, “The security of our nationals is our main priority. I am following closely the situation in the mountains between Sonora and Chihuahua.”