Family of four slain in northern Mexican state of Sinaloa

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A couple and their two children were shot and killed by unidentified assailants in a northern Mexican state plagued by drug trafficking violence, authorities said Wednesday.

The shootings took place around midnight Tuesday on the outskirts of the coastal city of Mazatlan, 850 kilometers (530 miles) northwest of Mexico City, the Sinaloa state attorney general’s office said in a statement.

According to a preliminary investigation, the killers argued with bricklayer Alfonso Garate before shooting him, then turned their Kalashnikov rifles on his 25-year-old wife and their 7- and 11-year-old children. Police found 77 Kalashnikov ammunition shells at the scene.

No one was detained and police said they had not uncovered a motive.

Mexico has struggled for years with drug trafficking-related violence that has left thousands dead throughout the country, especially in hotspots such as Sinaloa, home to the Sinaloa drug cartel. The cartel’s reputed leader, Joaquin Guzman escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 and is still at large.

Shortly after he took office in December, President Felipe Calderon sent thousands of soldiers into several states plagued by drug-trafficking violence to battle the criminals.

Mexican news media have reported that at least 1,700 people have died in drug-related violence so far this year.

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