Mexican drug cartel chief killed in two-hour gunfight
Mexican sailors raided a block of flats and killed a drug cartel chief in a two-hour gun battle, it was reported today.
The raid – carried out by 200 sailors – marked one of the biggest victories so far in President Felipe Calderon's war against the country's drug trade.
Arturo Beltran Leyva – known as the "boss of bosses" – and three members of his cartel were killed in the raid, which took place in Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City, yesterday, the navy said.
A fifth cartel member committed suicide during the battle, while cartel gunmen threw grenades, injuring three sailors, navy officials said.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said at least 10 explosions were heard.
During the gun battle sailors evacuated residents of the building to its gym, a woman who spoke to her husband in the complex told reporters.
Beltran Leyva is the highest-ranking crime figure to be killed in Calderon's campaign against drugs so far.
The president has deployed more than 45,000 troops across Mexico to crush the cartels since he took office in December 2006.
The operation has earned him praise from Washington, despite 14,000 people having been killed in a wave of drug-related violence.
The last time the Mexican authorities killed a major drug boss was in 2002, when Ramon Arellano Felix, of the Tijuana cartel, was shot by a policeman in the Sinaloa resort of Mazatlan.
Beltran Levya was one of five brothers who split from the Sinaloa cartel several years ago and aligned themselves with Los Zetas, a group of former soldiers hired by the rival Gulf cartel as hitmen. One of the brothers, Alfredo Beltran Leyva, was arrested in January 2008.
The split is believed to have fuelled much of the bloodshed of recent years.
The US drug enforcement administration had described the Beltran Leyva cartel as key in the importation and distribution of tons of cocaine, as well as large quantities of heroin, in the US.
Mexico classed the organisation as one of its six major cartels, listing Beltran Leyva as one of its 24 most-wanted drug lords and offering a reward for his capture.
US officials said Beltran Leyva's cartel carried out killings including numerous beheadings.
The gang also had success in buying off public officials, police officers and others to protect business and get tips on planned military raids.
The state of Morelos – in which Cuernavaca is located – and neighbouring Guerrero have seen a rise in drug-related violence in recent months, with dozens of people killed.
On Friday sailors raided a party at mansion in the mountain town of Tepotzlan, near Cuernavaca, where they killed three alleged Beltran Leyva cartel members and detained 11.
They also detained Ramón Ayala, a Texas-based norteño singer whose band had been playing at the party, on suspicion of ties to organised crime.
The musician's lawyer, Adolfo Vega, denied he had ties to the Beltran Leyva cartel and said he had been unaware that his clients were drug traffickers.