Mexico says US agents killed in crash weren't permitted to operate there

The two Americans who reportedly worked for the CIA died in a car crash after a Mexican-led operation to destroy a drug lab.

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The officials, who reportedly worked for the CIA, had taken part in a raid on suspected drug labs in the northern state of Chihuahua before their vehicle skidded off a mountain road and exploded.

Following an investigation ordered by President Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's security ministry said that "neither had formal accreditation to participate in operational activities" and that federal authorities had not been informed of their presence.

The incident comes amid at-times fraught relations between Mexico and the US on a number of issues including counter-narcotics.

Sheinbaum has come under intensifying pressure from US President Donald Trump to crack down on drug trafficking, but has repeatedly declined offers of US-led counter-narcotics operations in the country.