Journalist murdered in northern Mexico, at least 5th of 2018

A Mexican journalist was found beaten to death today in the northern state of Tamaulipas, on the US border, prosecutors said, at least the fifth journalist murdered in the country this year.

Hector Gonzalez Antonio, a correspondent for national daily Excelsior and local media outlets, was found bludgeoned to death in a street in the state capital, Ciudad Victoria, the state prosecutor's office said in a statement.

"An investigation has been opened so that those responsible for this homicide can be identified and located," it said.

Gonzalez had gone missing two days ago, according to an AFP correspondent in the region who was friends with him.

A married father of two, he covered politics and general news, including stories on the wave of violence that has engulfed Mexico in recent years.

Tamaulipas, the scene of bloody turf wars between rival drug cartels, has been hit particularly hard.

Racked by violent crime linked to the multi-billion-dollar narcotics trade, Mexico posted a record number of homicides last year: 25,339.

That included at least 11 murdered journalists, making the country the deadliest in the world for the profession after Syria, according to watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

Including Gonzalez, at least five have been murdered so far this year.

The vast majority of the cases have gone unpunished -- as do more than 90 percent of violent crimes in Mexico.