Mexican crime reporter killed in car

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - A crime reporter in the violent Mexican border city of Juarez was killed yesterday, adding to dozens of journalist deaths in a country where newspapers are so fearful that many refuse to cover drug violence.

Armando Rodriguez had covered crime for 10 years in Ciudad Juarez, working for El Diario newspaper. He was shot several times as he sat warming up his car outside his home.

A special federal prosecutor in charge of journalist killings will investigate.

Mexico has become one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists, in part because drug gangs target reporters whose stories detail their activities. Many reporters refuse to put their bylines on stories, and many newspapers have stopped covering the gangs altogether.

With Rodriguez's death, 24 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000 - at least seven in direct reprisal for their reports on crime - and seven others have disappeared since 2005, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Drug-related killings are soaring as cartels battle each other for lucrative routes used to deliver cocaine, marijuana, and other illegal drugs to consumers in the United States. President Felipe Calderon is cracking down and the cartels have responded with a vengeance - more than 4,000 people have been killed so far this year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS