The founder of Riodoce, a weekly publication, was shot dead outside his office by unidentified gunmen in Culiacan city in the north-western Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Javier Valdez Cárdenas, who covered extensively drug trafficking, had reportedly received death threats against him and his publication. He reportedly said that, in 2009, there was a grenade attack against his publication but no one was hurt.

Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto led the condemnation of Cárdenas’ killing who described it as an ‘outrageous crime’ and pledge to protect journalists in his country.