Aspiring Mexican congressional candidate killed in central state of Morelos

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - An aspiring congressional candidate for Mexico's ruling Morena party was assassinated on Saturday in the central Mexican state of Morelos, the president of Ecatepec municipality said on social media, months before Mexico's general elections.

Yair Martín Romero and his brother were gunned down at an intersection around noon in Ecatepec de Morelos, local media reported.

Mexican elections have been marred by political violence in recent years. Dozens of politicians and candidates were killed in the lead-up to the mid-term elections in 2021.

Also on Saturday, a second member of a powerful political family in the violent central state of Zacatecas was shot dead, the state's secretary general, Rodrigo Reyes, said on social media.

Jorge Antonio Monreal Martínez, the nephew of Zacatecas Governor David Monreal and Senator Ricardo Monreal, was killed in the municipality of Fresnillo.

Only days earlier, the senator's brother-in-law was also killed, local media reported.

"Given the tragic events of this week, in which citizens and family members were murdered, I express to the people of Zacatecas that there will be no impunity," the Zacatecas governor wrote on Facebook on Saturday afternoon.

The strategically located state of Zacatecas has been the site of bloody turf wars between various cartels for years.

"We will continue fighting for pacification in Zacatecas," the governor said.

(Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener in Monterrey and Vivian Sequera in Caracas, Venezuela; Editing by Tom Hogue)