Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman, the world's most powerful drug lord, has been killed in a gun battle between drug gangs, Guatemalan authorities suspect.
The 58-year-old head of the Sinaloa cartel is thought to have been among the bodies left after the shoot-out in a remote rural area of Peten, Guatemala. Residents who witnessed the clashes told authorities that one of the two dead men resembled the Mexican drug baron.
Police and soldiers searched the area in an attempt to locate the scene of the fight. Joaquín Archivaldo Guzman Loera, also known as "Shorty Guzman" because of his short stature, is one of America's most wanted criminals.
Guzman has been the most powerful drug lord since his rival was captured in 2003 and since 2009, has been named every year by Forbes as one of the world's most powerful people with an estimated fortune of $1 billion.
Last week, Guzman was named Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, a name not given to any criminal since Al Capone. The U.S. sees Guzman as such a threat, there is a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
The Drug Enforcement Agency believe Guzman has surpassed the infamous drug lord of the 1980s, Pablo Escobar, in terms of both his notoriety and the scale of his operation.
He has been in hiding since escaping from a Mexican prison in a laundry cart in 2001. Authorities stressed they've only received reports of the battle from local people.
"We have to wait for all the technical information in order to determine if, in fact, one of the dead is of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman," one official said.
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