Mexico City, February 28 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam stepped down from his post on Friday after being under fire for months over his handling of the investigation into the disappearance and apparent massacre of 43 students, a senior government official reported.

Murillo, one of the most experienced politicians in President Enrique Peña Nieto's government, will be moved to the Ministry of Agrarian and Urban Development, an anonymous government official told Reuters.

According to various Mexican newspapers, including La Jornada, Murillo will be replaced by ruling PRI party Senator Arely Gomez, who took leave of her post on February 26th. She is a lawyer and has been working in the judicial sector for over a decade.

The enforced disappearance of 43 teacher trainee students in the southwestern city of Iguala, in the state of Guerrero, in late September sparked the biggest crisis of Peña Nieto's administration.

Murillo announced late January that the Ayotzinapa case was closed and through the president's office he made public a 63-page crime report regarding the missing students which lacked any substantial or conclusive evidence, and seemed to be based solely on the confessions by three or four gang members, allegedly linked to the Guerreros Unidos or United Warriors.