MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican security forces killed reputed Gulf cartel leader Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords, in a spectacular, hours-long gunbattle Friday in the northern border city of Matamoros.
Cardenas Guillen, also known as "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 who have been captured or killed by the armed forces President Felipe Calderon has stationed throughout the country to battle drug traffickers.
The clashes 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 Defense Department said in a news release. 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 United States. He had been indicted on drug-trafficking charges in the U.S., where authorities had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Mexican authorities offered a $2 million reward and had him on their list of the nation's 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 and that was the result of more than six months of intelligence work, the Mexican navy said in a statement. The navy said troops showing up to arrest Cardenas Guillen were met with grenades and heavy weapon fire.
The Matamoros newspaper El Expreso said on its website that reporter Carlos Guajardo was killed covering one of the shootouts. Local news media reported Guajardo was leaving the area of the clash when his car was hit by gunfire more than 20 times. Reporters at nearby El Expreso huddled in the newsroom and published nothing on its website about the violence except for their colleague's death.
A video posted on YouTube showed a string of SUVs and pickup trucks racing through an empty street while continuous shooting was heard in the background. Men wearing ski masks got out of a car and used it to block the street.
The gunfire started as early as 11 a.m. at an upscale residential area in Matamoros, according to a resident who didn't want to be named for fear of retaliation.
The deceased trafficker's brother Osiel Cardenas Guillen led the Gulf cartel until his arrest by Mexican authorities in a similarly violent shootout in Matamoros in 2003. Osiel was extradited to the United States in 2007 and sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Texas court in February.
Northeastern Mexico, an area once controlled by the Gulf cartel, has seen an increase in violence due to a turf battle between the cartel and the Zetas, a drug gang formed by ex-military special forces originally as the assassins for the cartel. The violence has included broad-daylight shootouts and dozens of beheaded corpses dumped in public areas.
Cardenas Guillen's death is a major boost to Calderon's war on drug cartels.
"Today, we have taken another meaningful step toward the dismantling of criminal groups that do so much damage to our country," said Alejandro Poire, presidential security spokesman.
Arturo Beltran Leyva, leader of the Beltran Leyva cartel, died in a raid outside Mexico City on Dec. 16, 2009. Mexican soldiers killed the Sinaloa cartel's No. 3 capo, Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, on July 29 of this year. On Aug. 30, federal police announced the capture of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "La Barbie," and on Sept. 12 Mexican marines captured Sergio Villarreal Barragan, another presumed Beltran Leyva leader.
Authorities also reported a federal police operation Friday afternoon in the historic city of Patzcuaro outside of Morelia that sparked incidents of kidnapping, vandalism and cars set afire on the road between the two cities in the western state of Michoacan, which is controlled by La Familia cartel.
Authorities in Guerrero state said Friday relatives of 20 tourists from Michoacan who went missing in the resort city of Acapulco have identified the remains of five of them among 18 bodies found buried in a clandestine grave.
Fernando Monreal, investigative police chief for Guerrero state, said relatives of the men abducted Sept. 30 recognized personal belongings and identifying marks on their bodies.
Earlier in the day, Mexican authorities announced that eight members of a drug cartel were arrested in the torture and slaying of the brother of a former state attorney general.
The body of Mario Angel Gonzalez Rodriguez was found half buried in a house under construction in Chihuahua city after one of the suspects told officials where they could find him, Federal Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas told a news conference. Gonzalez had been forced to appear at gunpoint in a video saying his sister worked for a rival gang.
More than 28,000 Mexicans have been killed in drug-related violence since Calderon launched a national assault on organized crime in late 2006. The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a recent report that at least 22 Mexican journalists have been killed since December 2006.