The deputy warden of Honduras' main prison was shot dead Friday in an ambush on his car, police said.

Juan Andres Sanchez, who helped run the Marco Aurelio penitentiary to the north of the capital Tegucigalpa, was shot and killed just outside the city.

Honduras, along with neighboring El Salvador and Guatemala, has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

President Juan Orlando Hernandez has boosted police numbers since coming to power two years ago to combat rampant crime, with some success though he has said much more needs to be done.