Mexico City 16 May (ANA) - Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, known for his award-winning coverage of the drug trade, has been shot dead. Unidentified attackers opened fire on him on Monday in Culiacan city in the north-western state of Sinaloa, where he lived and worked. Valdez, 50, received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in 2011 for his work. He is one of several journalists who have been killed in Mexico this year. The body of Mexican journalist Javier Valdez lies on the street after he was shot dead in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, on 15 May 2017Image copyrightAFP/GETTY Valdez was shot dead on the street near the premises of the Mexican news weekly he had founded, Ríodoce. During his career spanning nearly three decades, Valdez wrote extensively on drug-trafficking and organised crime in Mexico, including the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. The cartel is believed to be responsible for an estimated 25% of all illegal drugs that enter the US via Mexico. Its founder Joaquin Guzman, also known as "El Chapo" (Shorty), was captured in 2014 and is currently in jail awaiting trial in the US. Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto condemned the killing, calling it an "outrageous crime", and added that his government remained committed to press freedom.(ANA)

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