Mexico City, July 1 (IANS): A Mexican journalist was shot dead in a bar in the state of Quintana Roo, the eight such murder case this year.

Jose Guadalupe Chan Dzib was a well-known journalist in southeastern Mexico who had worked in several newspapers and was presently working as a crime reporter for Playa News, an online newspaper based in the resort town of Playa del Carmen, reports Efe news.

Authorities said on Saturday that it had launched an investigation into the murder that took place in the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto on Friday night to find those responsible and to determine if the murder was linked to Chan Dzib's activities as a journalist.

The Quintana Roo State Commission on Human Right issued a statement condemning the murder and sending condolences to the journalist's family members.

The Commission said that it had contacted news media representatives to pass the case on to Mexico's national protection agency for journalists and human rights activists.

The Commission added that it had received four complaints against public officials regarding attacks against journalists, mainly in Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

The Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists has recorded 139 murders of journalists since 2001 in Mexico until Chan's death, most in the last decade.

Mexico is now widely considered to be one of the most dangerous countries for a journalist.