A municipal police chief was shot dead in northwestern Mexico on Saturday, becoming the latest victim of a wave of assassinations across the country, authorities said.

Carlos Bowser, police chief of Playas de Rosarito, was shot some 50 times by at least two gunmen on Saturday morning when he left his house to get on his pick-up truck, Baja California state Attorney General's office said.

Authorities arrested at least five people after the killing, said the office.

Bowser's death followed a wave of 11 assassinations on Friday in several Mexican states.

Interior Minister Santiago Creel Miranda attributed the killings to retaliatory attacks of crime gangs in reaction to government actions against organized crime.

Bowser's death came a few hours after a shoot-out between the police and drug pushers in Reynosa, a northeastern city bordering the United States. The clash left one federal policeman and three presumed drug-traffickers dead.

Source: Xinhua