Gunmen have killed the former governor of the Mexican state of Colima

Silverio Cavazos Ceballos, 41, died in hospital after being shot on the steps of his house in the state capital. Prosecutors are investigating the motive for the attack on Cavazos. Regional politicians, including mayors and governors, are increasingly being targeted by Mexico's drug gangs. A candidate for governor in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas was killed in June 2010 as he campaigned for election. More than a dozen mayors and mayors-elect have also been murdered in 2010. Cavazos, from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Pri), was hit as he and his wife were leaving their home in the city of Colima. He suffered fatal injuries, while she was also wounded. He had been state governor from 2005 until November 2009.