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MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A news reporter who wrote about violent drug crimes has been strangled in the northern Mexican state of Durango, authorities said Tuesday.

El Tiempo de Durango journalist Jose Bladimir Antuna was kidnapped Monday morning, said Ruben Lopez, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office.

Authorities found his body that night in a vacant lot in the state capital, about 400 miles southwest of Laredo, Texas.

State authorities are investigating the murder. Lopez would not specify whether they suspected connections with organized crime.

But Antuna had told his colleagues at the newspaper that he had received multiple telephone death threats, El Tiempo's business manager Fernando Mendoza told The Associated Press.

And Mendoza said investigators found a message beside Antuna's body, claiming he was killed for giving information to the military.

Antuna filed a complaint with the state Attorney General's Office five months ago, saying gunmen had fired at his house.

Lopez said investigators concluded that the gunfire was not aimed at Antuna, and that stray bullets from a fight outside had struck his house.

Antuna had worked for El Tiempo de Durango for nearly two years, Mendoza said.

Several international media watchdog groups say Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, especially those covering drug crimes.

(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)