Mexico drug lord Guzman avoids capture, but hurts self

Fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman fled during a failed operation to recapture him in northwestern Mexico in recent days, injuring his leg and face, the government said Friday.

Authorities said efforts to nab Guzman, whose brazen July 11 jailbreak saw him slip through a tunnel under the shower in his cell, have focused on the northwest region in the past few weeks after foreign governments shared intelligence information.

“Due to these actions and to avoid his arrest, the fugitive escaped in a hurry, which according to the information that was collected, caused him injuries to his leg and face,” the government said in a statement.

“It is important to specify that these injuries were not the product of a direct clash,” it said, without specifying the extent of the injuries.

“The security cabinet continues to conduct all actions that will allow the recapture of this criminal.”

The government did not say exactly where the operation took place, but the governor of the northwestern state of Sinaloa said Wednesday that special forces have been conducting operations in the neighboring state of Durango.

US Drug Enforcement Administration officials have told AFP that they believe Guzman fled to the rugged mountain region of his home state stronghold of Sinaloa following his jailbreak.

The states of Durango, Sinaloa and Chihuahua meet in a drug-producing region known as the Gold Triangle, a bastion of Guzman’s Sinaloa drug cartel.

US law enforcement officials say Guzman, 58, likely fled there because he enjoys the support of the local population.

Guzman’s escape, in which he crawled through a hole leading to a huge tunnel under his cell shower, was a major embarrassment to President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration.

He had been in prison for just 17 months.

A new video of his escape was leaked to the Televisa channel this week, showing that loud hammering could be heard in his cell moments before he descended down the hole.

It took guards nearly 40 minutes to go inside his cell after he escaped.

More than a dozen prison officials have been detained over charges they helped him flee.