Gunmen attack newspaper in northern Mexico for third time in as many days

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Gunmen attacked a newspaper in northern Mexico on Wednesday, the third such attack in as many days, killing a passerby and wounding a federal police officer guarding the building, Mexican newspaper Reforma reported.

The offices of El Siglo de Torreon — in the city of Torreon in Coahuila state, which is controlled by the hyper-violent Zetas drug cartel — have been attacked periodically since 2009.

The newspaper stopped all investigative journalism after the first attack four years ago, the Associated Press reported.

Several newspapers in northern Mexico, which has been the scene of a violent turf war between rival gangs battling for control of key drug smuggling routes into the United States, have announced their decision to censor coverage in response to repeated attacks.

Dozens of journalists have been murdered or have disappeared since 2005 because of their coverage of organized crime and corruption, while attacks against media outlets are common.

More from GlobalPost: How the Sinaloa cartel won Mexico’s drug war

In July, El Manana newspaper, in the border city of Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas state, said it would no longer cover “violent disputes” after a second grenade attack against its offices in as many months.

Reporters Without Borders has ranked Mexico one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, in the company of Syria, Somalia and Pakistan.