U.S. rules out sabotage in Mexico minister air crash

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. investigators have turned up no evidence that sabotage or criminal activity caused a Mexican government jet to slam into rush-hour traffic last Tuesday, killing the country's interior minister, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement on Wednesday.

"As of today, nothing in the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder, or the other evidence recovered at the scene of the tragic crash indicates sabotage or criminal activity," U.S. Ambassador Antonio Garza said in a statement.

Shortly after the crash, Mexico invited U.S. and British teams to join the investigation.

Last week Mexican officials said there was no evidence a bomb caused the plane crash.

The Mexican government has gone to considerable lengths to downplay speculation that foul play caused the fiery crash that killed Juan Camilo Mourino, President Felipe Calderon's right-hand man, and the president's top advisor on the war with Mexico's violent drug cartels.

Mexico's dark history of political assassinations and the drug war's spiraling violence has stoked speculation that foul play caused the crash.

All nine people aboard the Learjet and another five on the ground died in the crash, which incinerated cars and taco stands in an upscale neighborhood packed with tall office buildings.

The National Transportation Safety Board team is due to return to the United States on Thursday now that the preliminary phase of the investigation is complete, Garza said.

(Reporting by Robert Campbell)