A Mexican journalist abducted by gunmen earlier this week in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa was found dead yesterday.

Police found the body of Humberto Millán Salazar, the editor of online newspaper A Discusión and a morning news presenter on Radio Fórmula, in a farm building outside the state capital of Culiacán with a gunshot wound in the face, the Associated Press reported.

According to the International Press Institute (IPI)’s Death Watch, Millán is the eighth media worker killed in Mexico this year, tying the country with Iraq as the most deadly in the world for journalists.

Millán was kidnapped early Wednesday morning when “four or five” armed men in two vehicles intercepted his car, Spanish news agency EFE reported.

A Discusión said yesterday: “The action took no longer than 10 seconds, which, according to experts, denotes lengthy and meticulous planning.”

Millán’s brother was reportedly with him at the time of the abduction, but was released.

International Press Institute (IPI) Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said: “We condemn this deplorable act and our sincere condolences go out to Mr. Millán’s family and colleagues. We urge Mexican authorities to conduct a swift and transparent investigation into this brutal crime and to bring Mr. Millán’s killers to justice.”

Mexico remains caught in a spiral of violence as government forces battle organized crime and narco-traffickers, and Sinaloa is the home to some of the country’s most powerful drug gangs. IPI’s Death Watch indicates that 52 other journalists have died in Mexico since the beginning of 2000.