MEXICO CITY: A top leader of Mexico's Sinaloa drug gang was killed Thursday while resisting arrest in a military raid, the defence ministry said, in a rare victory for authorities battling the country's brutal drug cartels.

The army had launched the raid in a suburb of the western city of Guadalajara against kingpin Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, who "tried to escape" and opened fire on soldiers who shot back and killed him, deputy defense minister Edgar Ruiz told a press conference.

Coronel, who was a close partner of Mexico's most wanted man Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, is also known as the "King of Crystal" for his dominance of crystal methamphetamine production and trafficking as well as cocaine.

The US and Mexican governments both had outstanding arrest warrants for him, while US authorities had offered a five-million-dollar reward for information leading to his capture.

One of Coronel's nieces reportedly married Guzman, the fugitive head of the Sinaloa gang, in 2007.

- AFP/jm