SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (AP) -- Masked assailants alleged
                  to be Zapatista rebels gunned down three members of a family in Chiapas on
                  Sunday, a day after the region's new bishop met with the rebels to offer his
                  support and ask them for peace.

                  The victims apparently were supporters of the country's ruling Institutional
                  Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said Antonio Perez Arias, mayor of the village of
                  Chenalho, where the assault took place. Three other family members were
                  wounded.

                  Luis Javier Santiago, spokesman for the local prosecutor's office, said the
                  attackers, three masked men, had been identified as members of the insurgent
                  Zapatista National Liberation Army.

                  The Zapatistas waged a brief uprising in 1994 in the name of Indian rights. Since
                  then, scores of people have been killed in clashes between rebels or their
                  supporters and armed, pro-government squads. Peace talks between the rebels
                  and the government are at a stalemate.

                  The new bishop for San Cristobal de las Casas, Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, met
                  Saturday with the rebels, telling them he would intervene on their behalf in
                  seeking a solution to the conflict.

                  But he also implored the rebels to live as God wants them to, without resorting to
                  weapons.

                  Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.