Assassins on a motorcycle shot Cecilio Pineda Birto as he awaited his vehicle at a carwash, hitting him at least 10 times. Gunmen blocked the car of Javier Valdez Cárdenas after he left work, pumping at least 12 bullets into him. Miroslava Breach Velducea, leaving home with one of her children, was shot eight times by an unidentified assailant and died en route to the hospital.

They were among at least six journalists in Mexico murdered in 2017 because of their work in reporting corruption and other crimes, the Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group, said Thursday in an annual compilation of fatalities.

The total was a record for Mexico and made that country the deadliest for journalists this year outside of a conflict zone, the group said, and the third deadliest after Iraq and Syria.

The group, which keeps extensive databases on killed, imprisoned and missing journalists around the world, is investigating at least three other journalist killings in Mexico this year that may have been related to the work of the victims. If that relationship is confirmed the total would rise to nine.