Mexico City:
The number of people missing in Mexico has jumped from 16,000 in June to more than 22,000, the government says, blaming a technicality for the surge.
It is not the first time Mexican authorities have given widely conflicting figures. In May, Amnesty International asked the government to explain how it came up with a drastically lower number of people missing nationwide after the figure was slashed from 26,000 to 8,000.
Assistant Attorney General Mariana Benitez said the latest figure of 22,322 missing, compared to 16,000 just two months earlier, was explained by the "dynamic updating" of data.
It is not clear how many of the missing were killed or kidnapped by drugs gangs.
Some 80,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006, but the government says the number of homicides has dropped in the past year.