Four mayors in Mexico have asked federal authorities for protection after a colleague was beheaded last week in the southern state of Guerrero, officials said Tuesday.

Mayor Alejandro Arcos had been sworn into office less than a week before he was murdered.

Federal Public Safety Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch said four mayors requested protection on Monday, a day after Arcos' remains were found. The requests came from Guerrero and another violence-plagued state, Guanajuato.

The situation in Guanajuato is so bad that ahead of the country's June elections, at least four mayoral candidates were killed.

Garcia Harfuch did not say why the mayors asked for protection. He also didn't give much detail on the investigations into Arcos' killing, saying only that the mayor had left his staff behind to attend a private meeting just before his death.

Arcos had told local media he needed more protection, but Garcia Harfuch said no formal request had been received. State and federal governments can offer mayors bulletproof vehicles, additional bodyguards and emergency alert systems.

Arcos' murder came days after the killing of another city official, Francisco Tapia, according to Institutional Revolutionary Party president Alejandro Moreno.

"They had been in office for less than a week. Young and honest officials who sought progress for their community," Moreno said on X.

The state capital, Chilpancingo, is dominated by two warring drug gangs, the Ardillos and the Tlacos. One staged a demonstration of hundreds of people, hijacked a government armored car, blocked a major highway and took police hostage in 2023 to win the release of arrested suspects.

Gangs and drug cartels in Mexico frequently target mayors and other local officials to press demands for extortion payments, government contracts and the appointment of henchmen to municipal police forces.

At least 24 politicians were murdered during a particularly violent electoral process leading up to the June election that the key ruling party figure won by a landslide, according to official figures.

In June, at least three politicians in Guerrero were killed. Acacio Flores, who represents Malinaltepec, was killed just days after the killing of Salvador Villalba Flores, another mayor from Guerrero state elected in June 2 polls. Earlier in the month, a local councilwoman was gunned down as she was leaving her home in Guerrero.

Her murder came a few days after the mayor of a town in western Mexico and her bodyguard were killed outside of a gym, just hours after Claudia Sheinbaum won the presidency.