Mexico says drug lord taken down by accident

PROGRESO, Mexico (AP) - Mexico's navy said on Wednesday that its personnel had no idea they had killed the leader of the country's most-feared drug cartel until after his body was stolen from a funeral home in this border town.

The death of Zetas cartel leader Heriberto Lazcano, alias "El Lazca," in a gunfight with marines on Sunday left a wake of fear in the small mining and farming towns that dot the northern plains of Coahuila state.

Residents of Progreso said they heard a series of three loud explosions on Sunday, apparently from the grenades that Lazcano reportedly fired at marines who were pursuing him.

But most people refused to talk or said they weren't at the baseball field near where Lazcano died of gunshot wounds. Those that acknowledged hearing the explosions said they ran into their homes and stayed inside.