Guatemala City, May 7 (Inditop.com/EFE) The warden of a maximum security prison in Guatemala’s Santa Rosa province has been gunned down by unidentified assailants, authorities said.

Mario Rene Zuñiga, 29, who was appointed a year ago to run the El Boqueron prison, was enjoying a day off, when the attackers shot at him from outside his residence in Jutiapa city Wednesday, interior ministry officials said Thursday.

Zuñiga died at the spot of a head wound, they said, adding that the motive for the murder was not known.

In July 2009, the then-deputy warden of El Boqueron, Luis Rene Ibañez, was also shot at while driving. The assailants were armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

El Boqueron prison holds more than 140 people awaiting trial including those involved in murder.