CULIACAN, Mexico, May 18 (UPI) -- A Mexican state legislator and his assistant have become the latest victims in a rash of violent deaths in the state of Sinaloa.
A turf war between rival gangs of drug smugglers has taken more than 200 lives in Sinaloa this year, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
The human-rights group Sinaloan Civic Front of Culiacan said slayings so far this year exceed 240, a 20 percent increase over the same period last year. Police say more than 80 percent of the deaths in Sinaloa are connected to the illegal drug trade.
Saul Rubio Ayala, a legislator for the National Action Party and his secretary, Omar Ruelas Garcia, were killed by machine gun fire while driving Monday.
Authorities became suspicious of Rubio and his ties to drug trafficking last October when he was spotted at the funeral of Miguel Angel Beltran, a key aide to drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, law enforcement authorities said.
