Three journalists slain in Mexico

MEXICO CITY: Two journalists were shot dead in Mexico on Friday, bringing to three the number of journalists killed in the country this week, officials say.

Jorge Celestino Ruiz, who worked for the newspaper El Grafico de Xalapa, was killed on Friday night in the violence-plagued state of Veracruz, the mayor of the state’s capital Paulino Dominguez told AFP.

Ruiz’s house was shot at in October and bullets were also “fired at his vehicle to intimidate him,” said a police source, who asked for anonymity, and did not give further details.

Ruiz had stopped putting his name to his articles to keep a low profile, the reporter’s colleagues also said. State interior secretary Hugo Gutierrez “strongly condemned” the killing on Twitter and said it was an attack on freedom of expression.