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Former governor of Mexico's Colima state shot multiple times, survives

Fernando Moreno Pena, governor of Colima state from 1997 to 2003, was shot six times while having breakfast.

By Fred Lambert
Police are searching for two gunmen who on Oct. 13, 2015, attacked the former governor of Mexico's Colima state, Fernando Moreno Pena, who was shot six times but is expected to survive. Photo by Olivier Brisson/ Wikimedia Commons
Police are searching for two gunmen who on Oct. 13, 2015, attacked the former governor of Mexico's Colima state, Fernando Moreno Pena, who was shot six times but is expected to survive. Photo by Olivier Brisson/ Wikimedia Commons

COLIMA, Mexico, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A former governor of Mexico's Colima state suffered non-life threatening wounds after two gunmen opened fire while he ate breakfast in the state capital Tuesday.

The BBC reports Fernando Moreno Pena, 52, governor of Colima state from 1997 to 2003, suffered six gunshot wounds to his torso, arms, hand and neck. Doctors say he is in stable condition.

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Police are searching for the suspects, whose motive is unknown.

The incident comes five years after the shooting death of Silverio Cavazos, governor of Colima state from 2005 to 2009.

Both were members of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party -- as was Cavazos' predecessor, Gustavo Vazquez Montes, who died in 2005 when his flight crashed after departing Mexico City.

According to the United Nations, 151,200 people were killed in Mexico between 2006 and 2015, and at least 26,000 people are missing. Additionally, official statistics show 98 percent of crimes in the country go unsolved.

Colima state, situated on Mexico's west coast, has not seen the same levels of cartel violence attributed to border states such as Chihuahua and Baja California, but according to the BBC, violent incidents there have been on the rise.

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