CANCUN, Mexico, May 4 (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked the police chief of Cancun, a major Mexican beach resort with rising cases of drug gang violence, killing one of his bodyguards but leaving him unharmed, the government said on Friday.

A group of men opened fire on Ricardo Samos' truck on Thursday after other vehicles cut it off in downtown Cancun, the government said.

One bodyguard was killed at the scene and another remained in serious condition in hospital.

Mexico has seen a wave of drug-related brutality in the last couple of years and President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of soldiers to states on the U.S. border and other regions to wage war against narcotics cartels.

"Until now we have seen feuding between crime groups unconnected to the state, but yesterday's event was an attack against institutions, against the police department," Feliz Gonzalez, governor of Quintana Roo state, told reporters.

One man was arrested and dozens of guns -- some of them AK-47 assault rifles -- were confiscated in connection with Thursday's attack, Gonzalez said.

Drug-related deaths in Mexico number more than 700 so far this year. In April, five corpses with bound hands and feet were found in a sports utility vehicle in Cancun.

Cancun, a mass of towering hotels crammed along a narrow strip of white beaches, attracts millions of Americans and Europeans each year.

Fighting between drug gangs has normally been out of sight of tourist areas of Cancun, although other kinds of violence have increased.

In February, a British tourist tried to push his girlfriend off a 13th floor hotel balcony during a drunken fight but ended up falling to his death.

Last year, a married Canadian couple were found with their throats slashed in hotel room near Cancun. Their murders remain unsolved.

AlertNet news is provided by