Top drug lord's death to trigger more violence

Mexico City: One of the world's most powerful drug cartels took a major hit when soldiers killed a top kingpin in a gunbattle, and his death will likely will mean more violence as factions fight for the cocaine and methamphetamine empire that he left behind.

The death of Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel during an army operation also challenges a long-held notion that Mexican government officials at the highest levels have been helping the Sinaloa cartel win the drug war. Coronel was the No. 3 of the gang led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted drug lord.

The attack was an exclusively Mexican operation, unlike other recent raids targeting top drug lords that have relied on US intelligence, Mexican and US officials said on Friday. After a month of intelligence work, the Mexican army zeroed in on Coronel at his mansion on Thursday in a ritzy suburb of Guadalajara.

"I absolutely believe that this will have an impact on ... the Sinaloa federation's capability to move their drugs, at least in the short term," said Dave Gaddis, deputy chief of operations that the US Drug Enforcement Administration. "They will require time to rebuild."

Possible successors

Continuing the raids on Friday, soldiers killed Coronel's nephew, Mario Carrasco Coronel, in a shootout in the suburb of Zapopan.

The Defence Department said in a statement that Carrasco Coronel was one of his uncle's possible successors. He opened fire on soldiers, wounding one, before he was killed, the department said.

The elder Coronel, who had a $5 million (Dh18.3 million) US bounty on his head, is considered one of the founders of Mexico's methamphetamine trade, building clandestine laboratories in the country and smuggling the drug into the United States.