Eleven kids rescued from 'filthy' hideout in New Mexico

Police say 11 children ages one to 15 were rescued in the US state of New Mexico after officers raided a dilapidated compound occupied by armed men of "extremist" belief. Two men were arrested after police found them and the children in what one officer called "the saddest living conditions and poverty I have seen," as part of the operation connected to a months-long search for an abducted three-year-old, according to New Mexico's Taos County sheriff's office.

Police said the children, aged one to 15, had no shoes, were wearing rags and "looked like Third World refugees". Five adults were found at the scene, including two heavily armed men. Police searched the site after receiving a message from a third party that read: "We are starving and need food and water."

Siraj Wahhaj and Lucas Morton

Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe told ABC News the children were hungry, thirsty and filthy. "I've been a cop for 30 years. I've never seen anything like this," he said. Two armed men, Siraj Wahhaj and Lucas Morton, were arrested at the scene, and charged with several counts of child abuse.

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