MEXICO CITY, June 13 – Authorities in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca are investigating the fatal shooting of the mayor of San Miguel Amatitlan, the state prosecutor’s office said on Saturday, as security forces launched an operation to hunt those responsible.
Jose Angel Bravo Martinez died after being shot in an attack in the Mixteca region, officials said, adding that they were treating the case as a high-impact crime and had opened a formal investigation. The mayor of another Oaxaca town was murdered last month.
State investigators and forensic teams were dispatched to the scene shortly after the attack to process evidence and recover the body, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement, adding that it was coordinating with federal security officials.
Authorities did not immediately provide further details about a possible motive for the killing of Bravo, who belonged to a coalition of opposition parties, including the PAN (National Action Party).
Violence against local officials remains a concern in parts of Mexico, where organized crime groups often wield influence, particularly in rural areas. Mario Hernandez Garcia, the mayor of another Oaxaca town, Santiago Amoltepec, died last month in an attack that also left two other people dead.
At least 60 politicians or lawmakers died in targeted killings last year, according to data by the non-governmental organization Causa en Comun.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City; Editing by David Gregorio)
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