Mexico City/Tegucigalpa: The attorney general's office of the Mexican gulf state of Veracruz said on Monday it has opened an investigation into the shooting death of a Honduran photojournalist, who had apparently fled his home country fearing for his life.

The body of Edwin Rivera Paz was found in the city of Acayucan on Sunday with gunshot wounds and was then identified by a family member, the attorney general's office said in a statement.

Rivera Paz was a cameraman for the Honduran television program "Los Verduleros" (The Grocers). He fled Honduras after armed assailants shot and killed Igor Padilla, the program's director and producer, in the violent city of San Pedro Sula in mid-January.

Rivera Paz fled to Mexico after Padilla's death, fearing that he might also be killed, a Honduran journalist who asked not to be identified told Reuters.

Julian Hernandez, a spokesman for the Honduran police, said: "We are seeking more information about this crime in Mexico to determine if it is related to the murder of Igor Padilla and to see if any criminal gangs from Honduras were involved."

Veracruz, where more journalists have been murdered than the rest of Mexico, is now the deadliest region for the media in the Western hemisphere, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in May.

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