A group of 16 Mexican state security ministry employees were freed on Friday after being kidnapped earlier this week in the southern state of Chiapas, the ministry said, following a three-day search.

On Wednesday, state security official Gabriela Zepeda Soto said the 16 employees, all men, had been kidnapped by an armed group on a highway near the state capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez.

The motive for the kidnapping and the conditions of the men's release remain unclear. 

(With input from Reuters)