Red Cross ambulances in the Mexican city of Salamanca will get armed escorts for the most risky calls, after the organization briefly closed because of violence.

A man wounded by gunfire was abducted from one of its ambulances over the weekend in the central city.

The Guanajuato state chapter of the first-aid group said it shuttered operations, but later resumed ambulance service in the city of roughly 270 000.

Late Sunday, the state government said state or local police will accompany Red Cross ambulances "on the high risk or high-impact calls".

Salamanca has been plagued by violence between fuel theft gangs due to its gasoline refinery.

Earlier this month, a woman with gunshot wounds was executed inside an ambulance in Mexico's Pacific state of Guerrero.

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