Gunmen kill politician, 3 others in northern Mexico

Gunmen burst into the home of a political leader in the northern Mexican state of Durango and fatally shoot him.

Gunmen burst into the home of a political leader in the northern Mexican state of Durango and fatally shot him, two family members and an employee, authorities said on Monday.

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Jaime Meraz Martinez, 63, a former lawmaker and an adviser to the left-leaning opposition Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, was shot three times on Sunday night and died hours later at a hospital, said Ruben Lopez, a spokesman for Durango state investigators. Lopez said the gunmen also killed 61-year-old Maria Meraz, the politician's wife; 34-year-old Jaime Meraz, his son; and Jorge Marquez, a 22-year-old taxi driver.

Meraz's daughter-in-law, who was wounded in the attack, told police at least two gunmen were involved, Lopez said. He added that no arrests had been made and that investigators were still trying to determine a motive.

Meraz was an adviser for the PRD in Durango at the time of his death. In the 1980s, he was PRD president in Durango and a state legislator.

He also helped found a taxi owners' association in Gomez Palacio, a city 480 kilometres southwest of Laredo, Texas.