Two elderly Arizona women shot dead in car in northern Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Two elderly women from Arizona were shot dead in a vehicle along a highway in Mexico's northern Sonora state, local prosecutors said on Friday, adding they had immediately launched an operation to find those responsible.

State prosecutors said the women, identified without their surnames as Enedina, aged 72, and Ubaldina, aged 82, were found in an overturned white Nissan Pathfinder off the side of the highway. The incident was reported at 10:30 a.m.

The women were of dual U.S.-Mexican nationality, a local security source told Reuters.

The highway where the women were found, a stretch from the town of Sonoyta by the border with Arizona to the city of Caborca, is infamous for violence and the trafficking of migrants searching for better opportunities and security in the United States.

The two women were originally from Caborca, prosecutors said in a statement.

National Guard and army officers responding to the incident found a navy blue Ford F-150 in the vicinity that had been reported stolen as well as an AK-47 and ammunition, prosecutors said.

"Security forces from three levels of government immediately initiated an operation to locate and arrest the criminal group responsible, with the support of specialized air and ground forces," Sonora state prosecutors said.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Kylie Madry and Kim Coghill)