Mexican journalist who covered one of the country's most dangerous crime areas was killed

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican journalist covering one of the country's most dangerous crime areas was killed by gunmen on Sunday and two of his government-assigned bodyguards were injured, authorities said.

His death was confirmed by the web news site run by reporter Alejandro Martínez. The site covered local news and crime in Celaya, Mexico's most dangerous city for police.

Celaya police said Martínez was shot by assailants traveling in another vehicle. Police said the two bodyguards were being treated for their injuries but did not provide any information on their condition.

The journalist had been placed under police protection after reporting threats. Prosecutors in the northern state of Guanajuato said they were investigating the murder.

Martínez reported a fatal car accident on a dangerous stretch of highway just hours before he was attacked. His injured bodyguards took him to a hospital, where he died.

Guanajuato has the highest murder rate of all of Mexico's 32 states, largely due to a years-long turf war between the Jalisco drug cartel and the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang. In the city of half a million people, a total of 18 Celaya police officers have been shot dead so far this year. Drug gangs are suspected of being behind most of the killings.

In Mexico, media workers are regularly targeted – often in direct retaliation for their work covering issues such as corruption and the country's notoriously violent drug trade.

In April, Roberto Figueroa, who covered local politics and built a social media following with satirical videos, was found dead in a car in his hometown of Huitzilac in Morelos, a state south of Mexico City where drug-related violence is rampant.

Since 2000, 141 Mexican journalists and other media workers have been murdered, at least 61 of them apparently in retaliation for their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. All but a handful of the murders and kidnappings remain unsolved.