Two men burned to death by mob in Chiapas

Angry villagers in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas beat and burned to death two men who they accused of trying to steal a car.

A civil defense official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said the two men were grabbed by the mob Monday in the town of San Juan Chamula.

They turned them over to local police. But then a crowd seized the men from the local jail, pushed them through the streets, set them in wooden chairs and burned them to death. A leader of the mob was arrested.

Two men were burned to death in the same area in 2013 after they were accused of raping and killing a woman.

San Juan Chamula is known for its rigid system of local Indian governance.