The mayor was reportedly beheaded days after taking office in Mexico amid rising cartel violence

The mayor of a city in southern Mexico was assassinated less than a week after taking office, authorities said Sunday. This is the latest in a series of attacks on politicians in the violence-plagued Latin American country.

The killing of Chilpancingo Mayor Alejandro Arcos “fills us with outrage,” Guerrero state Gov. Evelyn Salgado wrote on social media, without providing further details about the circumstances.

Local media reported that Arcos was beheaded, but there was no official confirmation.

Reuters reported that photos circulating on WhatsApp showed a severed head on what appeared to be an Arcos vehicle, but the news agency could not independently verify the authenticity of the photos.

Arcos was elected in June to represent an opposition coalition that included the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which denounced his killing as a “cowardly crime” and called for justice.

“Enough of violence and impunity! The people of Guerrero do not deserve to live in fear,” said X.

According to PRI President Alejandro Moreno, his assassination came a few days after the assassination of another city official, Francisco Tapia.

“You were in office for less than a week. Young and honest officials who sought progress for their community,” Moreno said on X.

Guerrero, one of Mexico's poorest states, has experienced years of violence linked to turf wars between cartels fighting for control of drug production and trafficking.

Last year, 1,890 murders were registered in the state in which the seaside resort is located Acapulcoa former playground of the rich and famous now plagued by crime. Guerrero is among six states in Mexico that the U.S. State Department tells Americans to avoid entirely due to crime and violence.

Across Mexico, more than 450,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands are missing in a spiral of violence since the government deployed the army to combat drug trafficking in 2006.

Politicians, especially at the local level, often Become a victim of bloodshed in connection with corruption and the billion-dollar drug trade.

Combating cartel violence, which makes murder and kidnapping commonplace in Mexico, is one of the biggest challenges Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's first female president.

Sheinbaum, the former mayor of Mexico City who was sworn in on Oct. 1, has vowed to stick with her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's “hugs not bullets” strategy and use social policies to tackle crime at its root.

She is due to present her security plan on Tuesday.

At least 24 politicians were murdered In a particularly violent electoral process ahead of June's elections, the ruling party's key figure won in a landslide, according to official figures.

At least three politicians were killed in Guerrero in June. Acacia Floreswho represents Malinaltepec, was killed just days after Assassination of Salvador Villalba Floresanother mayor from the state of Guerrero, elected in the June 2 elections. A local earlier this month City councilor was shot as she left her home in Guerrero.

Her murder came a few days after the mayor of a city in western Mexico and her bodyguard were present killed outside a gymjust hours after Sheinbaum won the presidency.