Mexican mayor and his wife wanted over the kidnapping of 43 students

Jose Luis Abarca and Maria de los Angeles Pineda are wanted by police

(AP)

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Mexican mayor who is accused of masterminding the kidnapping of 43 students after they went missing in a riot last month.

Attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam accused Jose Luis Abarca, mayor of Iguala, of ordering police to stop students from disrupting a public speech made by his wife on 26 September.

Police opened fire at vehicles and six people died, including three students, in the protest against alleged discriminatory hiring practices for trainee teachers at a college in Ayotzinapa.

Tens of thousands of people across Mexico marched yesterday in demand for information on the missing students and Iguala residents are angry by the slow pace of police investigation after President Enrique Peña Nieto claimed that Mexico is getting safer under his rule.

As well as the mayor, Mr Murillo Karam also called for the arrest of the mayor's wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda and the town's police chief Felipe Flores Velazquez.

All three have not been seen since the incident and are considered fugitives.

Mr Murillo Karam said two more bodies have been discovered and Argentine forensic experts flown in to help with the investigation are carrying out further tests on all the bodies.

A total of 52 people, including police officers, local officials and gang members have been arrested in the case, including links to a gang called Guerreros Unidos, or United Warriors.

During the incident, police turned detained students over to Guerreros Unidos gang members, Mr Murillo Karam said, and the gang then mistook them for members of rival criminal group Los Rojos, or The Reds.

Gang leader of Guerrreros Unidos, Sidronio Casarrubias, was caught last week.