5 people, including local mayor, killed amid clashes in Mexico

Mexico violence

REUTERS/Stringer

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Five people, including a local mayor, were killed in a confrontation on Saturday morning in a picturesque small town in southern Mexican state of Chiapas, a government official said.

A group of protesters arrived in the town of San Juan Chamula to make complaints to the municipal government when some brandished firearms killing mayor Domingo Lopez, a driver, two other officials, and a local resident.

There are 12 people being treated for injuries in hospitals nearby, state government general secretary Juan Carlos Gomez said in a news conference, adding that calm had been restored in the town.

San Juan Chamula, a traditional indigenous town set in the green mountains of Chiapas, attracts a sizeable number of tourists to see its church which is filled with straw and is lit with hundreds of candles. 

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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