A footballer who played for the El Salvador national side before being banned for life for match-fixing, has been murdered, Reuters said, citing the Salvadorian attorney general’s office.

Alfredo Pacheco, 33, was with a group of friends chatting in a petrol station on Sunday when an unknown assailant opened fire on the group. Two other people were injured and were taken to a nearby hospital in the city of Santa Ana, west of the capital, San Salvador.

“The attorney general’s office in Santa Ana processed the crime scene of the murder of Alfredo Pacheco at 3.30am in a petrol station,” the AG's office said.

Pacheco was a defender who played for the Salvadorian clubs Club Deportivo FAS and Asociacion Deportiva Isidro Metapan and was the El Salvador national team’s most capped player. He also played for the New York Red Bulls in the US.

He was banned from the sport by the Salvadorian football federation in 2013 when it was found he had been involved in match-fixing.

The murder rate in El Salvador has rocketed this year, with homicides up 55% compared with last year. So far this year, there have been 6,068 murders, according to police data.