A number of students were still missing on Tuesday after a deadly shooting in southern Mexico, which left six people dead and many others injured.

The students have gone missing after an exchange of fire between unidentified gunmen and the municipal police in Iguala late Friday and Saturday.

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Out of the original 57 missing people, 14 were reportedly located. The 14 students have started getting in touch with family and friends, and have only been lying low due to fear, according to government officials.

However, the rest of the missing students were still unaccounted for, while 20 of them were reportedly been arrested, but were not found in detention centers.

The reason for the attack is still unknown.

In a  statement released by Vidulfo Rosales, lawyer from a human rights group supporting the students, Tlachinollan, the government has to increase efforts of finding the students, because in such cases, time is of the utmost importance.

The missing students came from a radical teacher training college and were aboard three buses traveling on their way to Iguala to obtain protest money fo fund their demonstrations.

It was later found from some of the students that they were only hitch-hiking back to their college, but the police said the students hijacked the bus to bring them back to their school soon after dark.

Reports said that the municipal police went after the buses and open fired during the chase.

About 20 students were taken by the police, while the others fled.

Three hours later, after the police chase, a number of students who fled went back to the scene of the attack, when they began to hear gunfire.

A witness, who identified himself as Angel told reporters that the gunfire from unidentified gunmen had them running in the opposite direction.

Both shootings left two students dead and one in critical condition.

Meanwhile, a bus carrying teenage football players have been among the vehicles that were involved in the municipal police's attacks.

The driver and one player died during the attack.

The sixth victim who died was a woman who was in a taxi at the time of the shootings.

The violent attack on the students is only one out of a series of deadly attacks in the Guerrero state of Iguala.

Other attacks included the assassination of a prominent political boss at a popular restaurant in Acapulco on Sunday and the murder of five people at the slums on Monday.

Analysts said that the string of violence proves that the city, which has been under a conflict for a long time, is now near the edge.

According to security expert Samuel Gonzalez, the situation is now critical.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, 22 police officers have been taken into custody after ballistic reports matched their guns with those used in the shootings.

TagsMexico, World News, violence