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'El Chapo' on the Run: Mexican Drug Lord Has Leg, Face Injuries: Sources

Fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is believed to be suffering from wounds to his leg and face as he continues to evade Mexican authorities.
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Fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is suffering from injuries to his leg and face as he continues to elude Mexican authorities.

The Mexican government confirmed Guzman's injuries early Saturday after NBC News reported he had been hurt during a near-miss last week.

Mexican Marines zeroed in on the Sinaloa cartel kingpin after U.S. drug agents intercepted cell phone signals suggesting "El Chapo" was hiding at a ranch near Cosala in the rugged Sierra Madre mountains in western Mexico, according to three sources with knowledge of the operation.

Marines raided the ranch in helicopters, but were forced to turn back after taking fire from suspected Guzman security forces. The Marines later entered the camp on foot and discovered cell phones, medication and two-way radios, but Guzman and his accomplices are believed to have fled on ATVs.

In the course of his "hasty escape," Guzman suffered injuries to "one leg and his face," according to the National Security Cabinet.

Authorities gave chase and believed to have encircled the fugitive within a two-mile radius. But a week and a half after the raid, officials are losing hope that Guzman’s capture is imminent.

The massive manhunt continues amid new revelations about Guzman's escape from a maximum-security prison in Altiplano in July. Prison security video previously made public but without audio was published again Thursday with sound by the Mexican network Televisa. Loud hammering can be heard on the footage before Guzman rises from his cot and slips through a hole in the cell floor into a tunnel beneath the prison.

Related: Prison Video Shows 'El Chapo' Had Half-Hour Head Start

The security footage shows that 28 minutes pass from the time Guzman disappears down the hole until guards raise the alarm that the drug lord is not in his cell. Nine more minutes elapse before a guard enters the cell and pursues Guzman through the hole.