Image copyright Facebook/Rodriguez Image caption The 32-year-old was a mayor before successfully running for Congress

A newly elected Mexican Congresswoman, Norma Azucena Rodríguez Zamora, has been kidnapped at gunpoint on a highway in central Hidalgo state.

Two men shot at Ms Rodríguez's car, injuring an assistant and the driver and causing the vehicle to flip over.

The gunmen pulled Ms Rodríguez from the car and forced her into their vehicle.

The kidnapping comes little more than a month after the mayor of the town of Naupan was seized and killed in the same area.

Ms Rodríguez was elected on 1 July to represent eastern Veracruz state in the lower house of Congress for the centre-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

The 32-year-old was due to take up office on 1 September. The state she will represent is one of the most violent in Mexico.

Before running for Congress, Ms Rodríguez served as mayor of the town of Tihuatlán in Veracruz.

Her kidnapping happened as she was travelling along a highway in neighbouring Hidalgo, the same on which the mayor of Naupan, Genaro Negrete Urbano, had been kidnapped last month.

Mr Negrete's body was found earlier this month. He had been shot dead.

The motive for his killing is not known but local politicians often become targets for criminal gangs if they are seen to interfere with the gang's business.

The campaign for the 2018 general election saw a spike in violence against political candidates.

Members of Ms Rodríguez's party have demanded that she be released safe and sound.</s>Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Armed men kidnapped a newly elected congresswoman Wednesday after forcing her vehicle to crash on a highway in Hidalgo state, Mexican security forces said.

Norma Azucena Rodríguez Zamora, 32, was riding in her car with her driver and assistant when the gunmen opened fire. The car flipped over and crashed, injuring Rodríguez's companions.

BBC reported the gunmen pulled Rodríguez from the wreckage of her vehicle and forced her into their vehicle, which Britain's The Telegraph said was a black Volkswagen Bora.

Members of Rodríguez's party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution, called on security officials to quickly find her alive.

Rodríguez was elected July 1 to represent the state of Veracruz in Mexico's lower house of Congress. She was due to take her seat Sept. 1.</s>PACHUCA, Mexico: An incoming member of Mexico's Congress was kidnapped at gunpoint on Tuesday (Aug 14), an official said, the latest violent episode surrounding the Jul 1 elections, the bloodiest in the country's history.

Azucena Rodriguez Zamora, who was elected to the lower house of Congress for the eastern state of Veracruz, was driving on a highway in the neighboring state of Hidalgo when gunmen in another car opened fire on her vehicle, said a police source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The car flipped over, injuring two people who were traveling with Rodriguez.

The gunmen then pulled her from the car and abducted her, said the source.

It is the second such kidnapping in Hidalgo in recent days.

On Aug 6, the mayor of the town of Naupan, in Puebla state, was found dead after being abducted at gunpoint on a Hidalgo highway.

At least 152 politicians were murdered in the run-up to Mexico's elections, according to the consulting firm Etellekt.

The murders - mostly of local-level politicians, the most frequent targets for Mexico's powerful drug cartels - were recorded between September, when candidate registration opened, and election day.

It is by far the most violent election on record in Mexico.

The country also registered a record number of murders across the board last year: 28,711.

And the record is on track to be broken again in 2018.

Mexico has been hit by a wave of violence since the government deployed the army to fight drug trafficking in 2006.

Since then, more than 200,000 people have been murdered. Another 30,000 are missing.</s>Mexican security forces were on Wednesday searching for a newly elected congresswoman who was kidnapped at gunpoint by armed men on a highway in the central state of Hidalgo.

Norma Azucena Rodríguez Zamora, 32, was travelling with her driver and assistant when at least two gunmen opened fire on her vehicle, causing it to flip over and injuring the two staff members.

The men then dragged out the congresswoman and forced her into their car, reported to be a black VW Bora.

Members of Ms Rodríguez’s party, the Left-wing PRD, demanded authorities do everything in their power to find her alive.

The politician was due to take office on September 1 as a congresswoman for the neighbouring state of Veracruz, a hotbed of drug cartel activity that has suffered some of the worst violence in the country in recent years.

Tuesday's ambush took place on the same highway where a mayor from the nearby state of Puebla, Genaro Negrete Urbano, was kidnapped in July. He was later shot dead, his body found earlier this month.
Norma Azucena Rodríguez Zamora, a recently elected member of the Congress of Mexico, is kidnapped by gunmen in Hidalgo State.