By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 22 -- Mexico's attorney general said today that his office was investigating whether Ramon Arellano Felix, a leader of the country's largest and most violent drug cartel, was killed in a shootout with police on Feb. 10.

"We are investigating, looking for evidence," said Rafael Macedo de la Concha, answering questions about the possible death of Arellano Felix, 37, whose photo appears next to Osama bin Laden's on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.

The newspaper Noroeste, based in the state of Sinaloa, northeast of Mexico City, reported today that Arellano Felix had been killed by Sinaloa state police in the Pacific resort city of Mazatlan.

The report said municipal police had attempted to stop a car when its four occupants began shooting .45-caliber handguns, killing one police officer. Officers returned fire, killing two people in the car. One of the dead men was reportedly identified as Efrain Quintero, who was wanted in connection with 12 killings. The other is suspected to be Arellano Felix.

The two other men were arrested, including one reported to be Manuel Asuncion Hernandez, an alleged associate of the Arellano Felix cartel.

The reports said that all four occupants of the car were carrying fake documents that identified them as agents of the federal attorney general's office.

Officials familiar with the case stressed that positive identifications had not yet been made. "A lot of forensic testing still needs to be done, and we won't have answers probably until the middle of next week," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Macedo de la Concha said his office had been investigating the incident since it occurred and that Mexican authorities were "exchanging information" with U.S. law enforcement officials.

FBI officials in Mexico City declined to comment. It was unclear whether Mexican or U.S. authorities have on file fingerprints, DNA samples or other scientific evidence that would allow them to conclusively identify Arellano Felix's body.

Officials apparently no longer have the body. News reports said it had been claimed the day after the shooting by people who identified themselves as relatives of the dead men, apparently using false documents.

© 2002