Gunmen kill two Guatemala Indian activists

GUATEMALA CITY, July 20 (Reuters) -- Three masked gunmen shot and killed a Guatemalan Indian peasant leader and his secretary on Thursday after ambushing their car some 30 miles (48 km) west of Guatemala City, police said.

"They shot them at point-blank range," said Cristobal Morales, police spokesman for Solola department, where the attack occurred.

Jose Alfredo Quino and Maria Elena Mejia, both Maya Indians, were members of the Regional Coordination of Integrated Cooperatives (CORCI), a peasant organisation working to resolve land disputes in the area.

The assailants, dressed in military-style camouflage fatigues and balaclavas, opened fire with assault rifles at about 9 a.m. (1500 GMT) and fled, said Morales.

The killings took place in an area inhabited mostly by impoverished Maya Indians, minutes from Lake Atitlan, a popular tourist destination.

Most of Guatemala's 10 million people are Maya, and rights for the impoverished native majority were a central negotiating point in peace talks between guerrilla rebels and the government. The talks culminated in 1996 and brought an end to a 36-year civil war.

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