Mexico (AP)

Gunmen have slain a Mexican journalist, the third such killing so far this year.

Albertano Guinto, the acting attorney general in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, said it was not yet clear if the death of Jorge Ochoa Martinez was linked to his work as director of El Sol de la Costa, a small newspaper that covers mostly local politics and community issues southeast of Acapulco.

Ochoa Martinez was shot in the face as he left a food stand in the town of Ayutla on Friday. Two other Mexican journalists were killed in early January, while 12 reporters were killed in Mexico during 2009.

The governmental National Human Rights Commission said that 60 journalists have been killed since 2000, with eight others kidnapped or vanished.

Increasing numbers

"In Mexico, increasing numbers of journalists are the victims of threats, intimidation, persecution attacks and kidnappings in the course of performing their work," the commission said in a statement Monday.