Mexican President Vicente Fox on Thursday appointed Rafael Rios as the new public security minister after his predecessor Martin Huerta was killed in a helicopter crash.

Rios is undersecretary for citizen participation and criminal policy in the ministry. He spent most of his career in the National Security and Investigation Center, the government's intelligence institution.

Meanwhile, Tomas Valencia, another top official killed in the crash, will be replaced by Arturo Jimenez as the Federal Police Commander.

The National Human Rights Commission has not announced who is to replace Jose Antonio Bernal, inspector of the commission, who is also killed.

The three and several other officials were killed Wednesday in a helicopter crash that took them from Mexico City to the high-security prison of La Palma, in Mexico state.

Source: Xinhua