Did Mexican drug lord die in shootout?

updated 8:31 p.m. ET March 26, 2008

GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemalan prosecutors were investigating Wednesday whether a reputed Mexican drug lord was among the 11 people killed in a shootout this week.

Guatemalan news media, citing unidentified police sources, have reported that Joaquin Guzman — the reputed head of the Sinaloa cartel — was killed in the gunbattle Tuesday outside a water park in Teculutan, a drug-trafficking stronghold in northeastern Guatemala.

Eight people died at the scene, and three others died later.

Drug prosecutor Geovanny Castro told a news conference that officials do not have any evidence that Guzman was killed, but they also can't rule out the idea because three of the victims have yet to be identified. Castro said samples have been taken from the bodies to perform DNA tests.

In Mexico, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said officials were working with their Guatemalan counterparts to confirm whether any of the victims were even Mexican.

"Whether a Mexican drug lord was among those detained or killed is just speculation," he said.

Guatemalan police detained three Mexicans and three Guatemalans after the shootout.

Guzman was arrested in 1993 in Guatemala. He escaped from a Mexican jail in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart.

He is now one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords and is believed to lead the powerful Sinaloa cartel.

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