* State prosecutor confirms killing of Colima ex-governor
* Small Pacific state one of Mexico's least violent
* Motive for killing unknown (Recasts, adds state prosecutor's confirmation, detail)
MEXICO CITY, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The former governor of the Mexican Pacific coast state of Colima was gunned down in his home on Sunday morning by unknown assailants, the Colima state prosecutor said.
Jesus Silverio Cavazos, who left office in November 2009, died of his wounds after being rushed to a hospital, Colima state prosecutor Arturo Diaz said in an interview on Mexico's Foro TV.
Cavazos' wife was also wounded in the attack. Investigators have no suspected motive for the crime, Diaz said.
Mexican regional politicians have been increasingly targeted by assassins in states that are home to drug gangs and major smuggling routes as rival gangs battle for control of the lucrative business.
Gunmen murdered the front-runner in the campaign for the governor's job in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas in June in the highest-profile political assassination in Mexico linked to drug gangs.
Colima, a small state located west of Mexico City on the coast, is home to the port of Manzanillo but has been relatively free of the spiraling drug-related violence that has ravaged some other Mexican states, particularly those in the north of the country that straddle drug smuggling routes. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Multimedia coverage:
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President Felipe Calderon has staked his legacy on crushing the country's powerful drug gangs, deploying tens of thousands of soldiers to combat the heavily armed cartels.
The fighting between security forces and drug gangs, as well as clashes between rival cartels, has killed more than 31,000 people since Calderon took office in late 2006, rattling foreign investors and Washington, which worries the violence could spill across the border into the United States. (Reporting by Robert Campbell and Luis Rojas Mena; Editing by Vicki Allen)
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