CUERNAVACA (Mexico) • Several gunmen burst into the home of a newly elected Mexican mayor and shot her dead on Saturday, just hours into her tenure, police said.

Ms Gisela Mota, 33, was gunned down barely 24 hours after taking her oath of office in the city of Temixco, about 90km from the capital Mexico City.

Temixco, which has a population of about 100,000, is plagued by organised crime and rampant drug trafficking - problems that the slain mayor had vowed to help clean up.

Ms Mota, a former federal member of Congress, belonged to the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution.

The government of central Morelos state said that two of the suspected gunmen had been killed and one was in custody.

The assailants entered Ms Mota's home and opened fire, killing the mayor and two others, according to Mexican newspaper La Jornada.

Local media reports say that the suspects fled in a van after committing the crime, but local police and Ms Mota's bodyguards pursued them.

State Governor Graco Ramirez pledged that there would be "no impunity".

He also wrote on Twitter in Spanish: "This is a challenge from organised crime. We will not relent."

Several mayors were killed last year in Mexico, where armed gangs financed by the drugs trade control many local communities.

Morelos has been one of the states most affected by the drug violence plaguing the country, including kidnappings and murders.

More than 100,000 people have been killed or gone missing in nearly a decade of drug violence nationwide.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December 2012, has pledged to reduce the murders, kidnappings and extortion haunting Mexicans.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS