Top Mexican drugs boss shot dead in army raid

Soldiers killed the "No 3" of Mexico's most powerful drug cartel in a raid on his hideout in the Mexican city of Guadalajara.

Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, one of the founders of the methamphetamine trade in Mexico, was shot while trying to escape. Mexican authorities said he fired at soldiers, killing one and injuring another.

Coronel, 56, was the right-hand man of Mexico's most wanted criminal, Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

General Edgar Luis Villegas said his death "significantly affects the operational capacity and drug distribution of the organisation run by Guzman".

There have been persistent allegations that the government appeared to be favouring the Sinaloa cartel, or not hitting it as hard as other drug gangs.

But president Felipe Calderon cited last year's arrest of Vicente "El Vicentillo" Zambada, the son of Sinaloa No 2 Ismael Zambada, as proof he was targeting the gang.

The FBI had offered a $5 million reward for Coronel's capture. He was believed to control trafficking through the Mexican states of Jalisco, Colima and parts of Michoacan, the "Pacific route" for cocaine smuggling.

Coronel, who was only ever accompanied by one man, his lieutenant, ran his operation from the Zapopan suburb of Guadalajara.

In raids on four houses there in 2006, police arrested five of Coronel's lieutenants and seized more than $2 million in cash and jewellery — but failed to find Coronel.