Journalist found dead in 'pool of blood' at home in northern Mexico

A female journalist was found dead at her home in Mexico with stab wounds to the back of the neck, the state attorney general's office has said.

Alicia Diaz Gonzalez, 52, was yesterday found by her children, who were upstairs at the time and did not hear anything awry, the office said.

The woman "was on the floor, face down, in a pool of blood having suffered blows," a source from the Nuevo Leon state prosecutor's office told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The death was confirmed by El Financiero newspaper, where she had worked since January. Editor Mauricio Mejia called for an "urgent... Official response" to the death on social media.

Authorities have not established a motive for the crime.

Diaz's colleagues told AFP she reported on local business activity and financial issues, not "sensitive" information such as drug trafficking.

Still, the National Human Rights Commission urged authorities to focus their investigation on Diaz's line of work.

Last week, journalist Juan Carlos Huerta was shot dead as he left his home in a suburb of Villahermosa in southeast Mexico.

His murder took place one year after Javier Valdez, who received international recognition for his coverage of drug trafficking, was gunned down in broad daylight in his native Culiacan, Sinaloa, where powerful cartels operate.

Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist, with more than 100 reporters killed since 2000. Most of those crimes remain unpunished.