One of Mexico's most wanted men and the head of a top drug cartel has been killed in a military operation south of Mexico City.
Arturo Beltran Leyva, a drug lord dubbed 'The Boss of Bosses', was killed yesterday by navy forces in a luxury residential complex in the southern city of Cuernavaca.
'We confirm the death of Arturo Beltran Leyva. He was killed in a navy operation in Cuernavaca,' said a navy captain who declined to be named.
Six bodyguards died together with Beltran Leyva, who ran a cartel that carried his family name. He was an ally turned foe of Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin 'Shorty' Guzman.
More than 16,000 people have been killed in drug violence in the last three years as rival gangs have fought each other and security forces.
The death of Beltran Leyva is a boost for President Felipe Calderon, who launched a war against the cartels after coming into office in 2006.
Navy forces have increasingly joined army troops and federal police in the fight.
The Beltran Leyva brothers were engaged in a fight over smuggling routes into the US with one-time ally and now arch-enemy Shorty Guzman.
US Attorney General Eric Holder in August announced an indictment against Arturo Beltran Leyva and other top Mexican smugglers for moving billions of dollars of cocaine across the US border.
Beltran Leyva was wanted in Mexico for organised crime activities and kidnapping. He had a $2.4m price on his head in Mexico.
The US Treasury Department said last week that it had frozen the US assets of 22 individuals and ten companies linked to the Beltran Leyvas.
