Rev. Marcelo Pérez was shot dead by two gunmen when he was in his van, just after he had finished celebrating Mass, the state prosecutors' office said.

Gunmen in Mexico have shot dead a Catholic priest who was an outspoken advocate for indigenous rights and who had condemned the violence plaguing his community. Father Marcelo Pérez was killed after celebrating Mass in the southern state of Chiapas on Sunday, the prosecutor's office said.

With cartels vying for control of the area, aid groups are struggling to help thousands trapped by US and Mexican migration policies.

A Mexican Catholic priest was killed on Sunday in the southern state of Chiapas after officiating a mass, his religious order and authorities said, marking the latest death in a recent wave of violence in the area.

Two assailants on a motorcycle fired at Father Marcelo Pérez Pérez, 41, who was found dead inside a vehicle in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas.

Catholic priest Marcelo Perez, an activist for Indigenous peoples and farm laborers in southern Mexico, was killed on Sunday. The prosecutors' office in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, in the state of Chiapas,