News / Mexico

Two Mexican mayors shot dead in drug-related violence

Monday, 25 July 2016 6:46 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 25 July 2016 8:09 AM ]

This photo shows Mexican people looking at blood on the pavement in the site where Mayor Domingo Lopez Gonzalez was killed in San Juan Chamula, Chiapas state, on July 23, 2016. ©AFP

Two mayors have been shot dead in two days in one of Mexico's most violent drug corridors.

Authorities said Ambrosio Soto Duarte, the mayor of a township that includes a known haven for drug traffickers in the southern Guerrero state, was shot dead late Saturday.

Gunmen reportedly blocked a highway just over the state line in the neighboring Michoacan state with pickup trucks and opened fire on the mayor's vehicle.

Two federal officers serving as the mayor’s bodyguards were also wounded in the attack.

Officials said Soto had been threatened by a local drug gang and was under protection from federal police.

Guerrero has become one of the deadliest and most dangerous states in Mexico. It has been the scene of drug-related abductions and homicides.

The killing came after another mayor and four other people were shot dead in the town of San Juan Chamula in southern Chiapas state on Saturday.

The mayor was meeting with residents when gunmen opened fire on the crowd. Dozens of people were also wounded and taken to hospitals.

Officials said six men were arrested in connection with the shooting on Sunday.

Ambrosio Soto Duarte, mayor of a town in Mexico’s Guerrero state, was shot dead on July 23. 2016. (File photo)

A total of 324 homicides, all of them related to organized crime and drug cartels, were reported in the state in just two months between October and December last year, according to official figures.

Mexico has been plagued with a bloody drug war that has cost tens of thousands of lives. At least 75 mayors have been killed in the country during the past decade.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk