Honduran police say the country's most senior anti-drugs official was killed by suspected drug cartel hit man on Tuesday.
 

Retired General Julian Aristides, head of Honduras' drug control office was shot dead in the capital Tegucigalpa in broad daylight. Two gunmen on a motorcycle pulled up next to his car just after he had dropped his daughter at the school and opened fire.
 

Honduras is considered an important staging post in the transport of drugs from Latin America to north America. Last week, Attorney General Luis Rubi told journalists "we are being invaded by drug cartels in the country is in danger. They have declared war on us and we accept it. We're going to redouble our efforts in our fight against drug trafficking".
 

In October, Mr Aristides said the number of planes smuggling cocaine through Honduras had risen dramatically in the months following June's coup because the United States suspended co-operation in response to the military takeover.