Mexico City's security chief was wounded in a gun attack Friday in which two of his bodyguards and a woman passerby were killed, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said.

The mayor told a press conference that Omar Garcia Harfuch's life was not in danger following the early morning attack.

Garcoa Harfuch himself said he was targetted by drug traffickers.

Six organized crime groups operate in Mexico City and the vast metropolitan area, National Defense Secretary Luis Sandoval said Thursday.

Despite growing drug cartel violence in Mexico over the last decade, the capital remains relatively calm compared to other areas of the country.

A woman who was driving past the scene of Friday's attack was also killed.

"Two elements of the secretary's security team lost their lives," Sheinbaum told reporters.

"Unfortunately, a woman who was travelling in the area by car lost her life."

Twelve people had been arrested after the attack, the mayor said.

Security forces cordoned off the residential area of Lomas de Chapultepec in the city.

The mayor said earlier on Twitter that she was coordinating with the National Guard, "taking the necessary measures to guarantee security in the city," following the attack.

"What happened has to do with the great work that is being carried out to guarantee peace and tranquility in the city, in coordination with federal forces."

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at his daily press conference that he had learned of the attack from the mayor.

"The preliminary report says that the head of public security is wounded," the president said.

Mexico's Minister for Security and Citizen Protection, Alfonso Durazo, condemned what he called a "cowardly attack on a public servant dedicated to the security and peace of the inhabitants of the country's capital". 

Garcia Harfuch, 38, has been Mexico City security chief since October last year.