Mexican Activist Who Led Search For 43 Missing Guerrero Students Is Found Slain; Others Also Killed

Guerrero1 — Miguel Angel Jimenez (center, in red), who led a search for 43 missing students in Mexico's Guerrero state, was found slain Saturday inside a taxi in Xaltianguis, Mexico, local media reported. Pictured: Jimenez, leader of the community police in Guerrero, speaks with a federal police officer on a boat during a search for the missing students, in Acatlan, Mexico, Oct. 30, 2014. Reuters/Henry Romero

ACAPULCO, Mexico (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed during the weekend in the southwestern state of Guerrero, including an activist who helped lead efforts to find 43 students who disappeared and were presumed murdered last year, according to Mexican officials.

Ten of the murders took place in the resort city of Acapulco, which is packed with tourists due to summer vacations, local police said.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, a leader of a community police organization, was found shot to death inside the taxi he drove on Saturday night in the rural outskirts of Acapulco, according to local police.

Jimenez led a group that searched for approximately 300 people who have disappeared in the state, helping uncover mass graves found around the city of Iguala, where 43 Mexican students went missing last year.

The government has said the students were abducted by police and handed over to drug traffickers who allegedly killed the students and burned their bodies.

Guerrero, which has one of the highest murder rates in the nation, saw 1,514 homicides in 2014 and 943 people who have been killed so far this year through June, according to federal statistics.

(Reporting by Uriel Sanchez; Editing by Diane Craft)