Mexico City, Oct 10 (IANS): The Mexican navy killed one of the most wanted drug cartel leaders in a clash in the country's Coahuila state, but the body was lost after some armed men took it away from a funeral house.

According to Mexican authorities, the body corresponds with Heriberto Lazcano, alias "El Lazca", head of the Los Zetas Cartel. It was kept in a funeral home and tested before forensic identification, Xinhua reported.

Early Monday, a group of armed men raided the funeral home and took the corpse, said the Coahuila state's attorney general Homero Ramos Tuesday.

The Mexican Navy, which conducted the operation against Los Zetas leader, said fingerprints and photographs had been used to identify the body as Lazcano's before it was lost.

In a statement, the Navy reported that "after performing a search on the fingerprint database of fingerprints of the thumb, index and middle taken from the right hand of one of the criminals killed", it is confirmed that the fingerprints belong to Lazcano.

Meanwhile, Mexican President Felipe Calderon Tuesday also confirmed that Lazcano was killed because he resisted the authority during a military operation.