Drug baron among seven killed in Mexico shootout

SECURITY forces have shot dead one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords in a gun battle.

Cardenas Guillen, aka "Tony Tormenta" or "Tony the Storm", is the brother of imprisoned former leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen and is the latest in a growing number of high-profile cartel leaders captured or killed by armed forces that president Felipe Calderon has stationed across the country to battle drug traffickers.

The clashes on Friday across the border from Brownsville, Texas, also claimed the lives of four gunmen and three marines, according to the Mexican navy, and caused mayhem late into the night.

A soldier and a local reporter were also killed, the Mexican Defence Department said. Across the city, residents holed up in their homes and offices to escape the gunfire, communicating by Facebook and Twitter. "Shelter, everyone! Don't leave your houses please. Pass the word," read one tweet.

Cardenas Guillen, 48, is believed to have run the powerful cartel along with Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, moving cocaine and marijuana into the US.

He had been indicted on drug-trafficking charges in the US, where authorities had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Mexican authorities offered a $2m reward and listed him among their most-wanted drug traffickers.

He was killed in a two-hour shootout in an operation that included 150 marines, three helicopters and 17 military vehicles, the result of more than six months of intelligence work.

The navy said troops showing up to arrest Cardenas Guillen were met with grenades and heavy fire.

Newspaper El Expreso said on its website reporter Carlos Guajardo was killed covering one of the shootouts.