Five dead after ambush and attack targeting election staff in Mexico
- The attack happened on Saturday when electoral authorities were delivering ballot boxes to a community in the state of Chiapas
- Legislative and local polls have been overshadowed by bloodshed that has seen more than 90 politicians murdered since September
Gunmen ambushed and killed five people helping to organise elections in southern Mexico, prosecutors said on Sunday, part of a wave of violence linked to the polls.
The attack happened on Saturday when electoral authorities were delivering ballot boxes and other voting materials to a community in the Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacan municipality in the state of Chiapas.
Armed individuals arrived at the scene and attacked poll organisers, wounding one person, the state prosecutor’s office reported.
Residents tried to take the injured man to a medical centre, but on the way they were intercepted by an armed group that forced their pickup truck off the road.
The attackers approached the vehicle and shot the five occupants, prosecutors said.
A manhunt was launched for the perpetrators as well as an investigation into their motive.