Authorities: Mexican journalist killed in highway shooting

MEXICO CITY – A journalist in the central Mexican state of Puebla was killed in a highway shooting, authorities said Thursday.

The Puebla state prosecutor’s office said in a statement that a man it identified only as Aurelio C. of the newspaper El Grafico de la Sierra was shot Wednesday night while driving on a highway near the community of Huauchinango.

The Network of Journalists in Puebla gave the victim’s full name as Aurelio Cabrera Campos, a reporter and editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper. He died at a hospital early Thursday.

The network demanded a swift and thorough investigation.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists had counted seven journalists killed so far in Mexico this year before Cabrera’s death. Mexico’s national human rights commission has counted at least eight journalists killed this year.

The rights commission said in its own statement Thursday that it was investigating the killing and asked the government take steps to protect Cabrera’s family.