Chilpancingo (Mexico), Aug 21 (EFE) The speaker of the legislature in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero was gunned down Thursday by some unidentified gunmen outside his house, officials said.

Armando Chavarria Barrera, a member of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, served as the state's interior minister until May 6, 2008, when he resigned in the wake of the murders of 17 ranchers.

The legislator was killed at around 7 a.m. in Chilpancingo, the state capital, the Guerrero Public Safety Secretariat said.

Chavarria Barrera was apparently shot several times after he got into his car.

'As of now the motive for the crime is not known, nor is the identity of the killer or killers,' the secretariat said.