Gunmen kill tourism secretary of drug-plagued state, home to Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel

Mexican official killed in drug-plagued state

CULIACAN, Mexico — Gunmen have killed a tourism secretary in northwestern Mexico, two days after a drug kingpin was buried in the state’s capital.

Rolando Bon Lopez is assistant prosecutor for Sinaloa state. He says Antonio Ibarra and his driver were shot Monday after gunmen intercepted their car in the capital of Culiacan.

Lopez says no one was detained and that police are trying to determine whether his killing was drug-related. Ibarra is survived by a wife and seven children.

Sinaloa is home to some of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, including the gang run by Arturo Beltran Leyva, who was killed Dec. 16 during a shootout with marines in the central Mexican city of Cuernavaca.

Beltran Leyva was buried Sunday in Culiacan’s cemetery.