Likely drug gang revenge attack kills Mexico family

QUINTIN ARAUZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Suspected drug gang hitmen shot dead the grieving mother, brother and sister of an elite Mexican marine who died after a raid that killed a top drug lord, police said on Tuesday.

In what appeared to be a revenge attack for last week's navy operation, gunmen burst into the family's house in the town of Quintin Arauz in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco just before midnight on Monday and fired assault rifles.

"They broke the door down with a sledgehammer and sprayed them with bullets in the living room and bedrooms," said local deputy police commander Saturnino Dominguez.

A fourth family member was killed and another injured.

The shooting came just hours after the funeral of special forces marine Melquisedet Angulo, who died of wounds suffered during the strike that killed Arturo Beltran Leyva, boss of the cartel bearing his name, and five bodyguards last week.

Angulo, who was hit by grenades during the attack, was lauded as a hero, making his family an identifiable target.

Mexican soldiers and navy troops are normally fully masked in big drug operations to keep their identities secret.

Dominguez, who confirmed the victims' relation to Angulo, said police suspected the killers were working with the Beltran Leyva cartel.

(Reporting by Luis Manuel Lopez; Writing by Jason Lange)