MEXICO CITY, July 30 (UPI) -- Mexico announced a victory in its war on drug trafficking by confirming the death of "Nacho" Coronel, a leader of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel.

Coronel (Ignacio Coronel Villareal) was killed in a military raid in Guadalajara Thursday and one of his top lieutenants, Iran Francisco Quinonez Gastelum, was arrested.

One soldier was killed and another was wounded in the raid.

Brig. Gen. Edgar Luis Villegas, a spokesman for Mexico's defense department, told reporters in Mexico City military intelligence learned that Coronel was laying low at a safe house in the city.

CNN said Friday the operation marked a high point for President Felipe Calderon's administration in what has been a bloody year on the streets of Mexico.

Authorities said that along with taking a wily and seasoned trafficker off the streets, the raid marked a potentially significant blow to the Sinaloa cartel, which some critics have contended had been feeling relatively little heat from the government.

The Daily Telegraph said the death toll for 2010's drug wars reached approximately 5,000 by June.