Two United States officials and another two Mexican officials assigned to combat drug cartel operations died in a car accident in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua on Sunday, a US embassy spokesperson said.

The Mexican officials were the director of the state’s investigation agency and an officer, state authorities said, adding that they were on an operation to destroy clandestine laboratories in the municipality of Morelos.

No details were immediately available about the US officials.

“This tragedy is a solemn reminder of the risks faced by those Mexican and US officials who are dedicated to protecting our communities,” the US ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, wrote on X.

“It strengthens our resolve to continue their mission and advance our shared commitment to security and justice, to protect our people.”

At a news conference, Chihuahua’s attorney general, César Jáuregui Moreno, identified the Mexican officials killed in the crash as Pedro Román Oseguera Cervantes – the state’s investigation agency director – and officer Manuel Genaro Méndez Montes.

Jáuregui offered condolences to the families of Oseguera, Méndez and their late American colleagues.

Chihuahua’s governor, Maru Campos, published a tribute to Oseguera specifically on X on Sunday, saying he died while “working for the peace and security of Chihuahua residents”.

Guardian staff contributed