Mexico City, January 23 (RHC-EFE) -- Mexican security forces rescued 23 people who were being held by kidnappers in caves in the southern state of Guerrero, a source in the federal Attorney General's Office said Thursday.

Federal Police and military personnel apprehended 16 captors in the rescue operation near the town of Arcelia. The 16 suspects were turned over to the organized-crime unit of the AG's office, the source said, adding that the captives included adult men and women and four teenage girls.

One of the suspects was wounded in a confrontation with the soldiers and police, according to media accounts. Four shotguns, three rifles and ammunition were confiscated at the scene.

The rescue took place about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Iguala, Guerrero, where 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teachers college were abducted by police the night of September 26th.

Mexican authorities say corrupt municipal police handed over the students to drug-cartel enforcers who killed the young people and then incinerated them at a dump.

So far, however, forensic tests on remains purportedly recovered from a river near the dump have revealed a match with only one of the 43 Ayotzinapa students.