The mayor of an indigenous community in southern Mexico was shot dead yesterday, a local prosecutor said, making a total of three Mexican mayors killed this year.

Luis Jimenez Mata, who only took up his post in Santiago Amoltepec at the start of year, was shot dead as he arrived at his offices in nearby Oaxaca City, capital of Oaxaca state, said Manuel de Jesus Lopez.

The motive of the killing remained unclear and fourteen people were called in for questioning, but none had been detained, the official said.

Santiago Amoltepec, which has around 1,000 inhabitants, is involved in several land conflicts with neighbouring communities.

The mayor of Temoac, in central Morelos state, was fatally “shot in the face” last Monday, while authorities in the northern state of Coahuila found the bullet-riddled body of the mayor of Zaragoza last week.

Fourteen Mexican mayors were killed in 2010, mostly in the volatile north of the country near the US border, which has been gripped by brutal violence among drug gangs and security forces in recent years.