Three people were killed and five more injured when armed gunmen attacked a gay festival in Mexico's southern tourist resort of Acapulco, police said.

Attackers stormed the "Reina Gay" festival taking place in Tres Palos on the edge of Acapulco on Sunday, opening fire on the crowd, a local police official told AFP.

Three men aged 23 to 33 were killed and five others were hospitalised with injuries, the official said.

Authorities have had to suspend classes at some rural schools near Acapulco in recent weeks and install security forces at others due to a spike in violence near the Pacific coast port, which has the highest homicide rate of any city in Mexico.

Acapulco is located in Guerrero state some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Ayotzinapa, the town where 43 Mexican students studied at a rural teachers college before disappearing last year.

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