Gunmen shot dead two Guatemalan reporters and injured a third Tuesday in the city of Mazatenango.

Gunmen shot dead two Guatemalan reporters and injured a third Tuesday in the city of Mazatenango, authorities and media union officials said.

Witnesses said men on motorbikes killed Danilo Lopez, a reporter at Prensa Libre, and Nuevo Mundo Radio's Federico Salazar in the city 170 kilometers (105 miles) south of the capital. They also wounded reporter Marvin Tunches, local media said.

Lopez had been receiving threats after he reported on corruption in the area, according to Prensa Libre's chairman Miguel Angel Mendez.

Guatemala's media do their work against the challenging backdrop of worsening violent crime, much of it related to clashing rival drug organizations.

The Central American country's bloodletting claims an average of 16 lives every day, officials say.